Chances and challenges of comprehensive geriatric assessment training for healthcare providers

Abstract

Geriatrics is the medical specialty that deals with physical, psychological, social and functional aspects of the older adult and represents a most authentic form of personalized medicine. As such, it is successfully performed through its cornerstone instrument, the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), which consistently shows its significant benefits since over 30 years. However, the high speed at which the world population ages and gets affected by chronic conditions, multimorbidity and functional impairment is not yet accompanied by a strong, competent and self-conscious geriatric culture. This unmet need contributes to the further exponential increase of disability and lack of well-being in older persons. In this paper, we give an overview of the possible reasons for the lack of adequate CGA implementation across settings and highlight the likely benefits of consequent training and education of two groups of (future) professionals in the field of aging medicine: medical students and residents on one hand and multiprofessional healthcare providers, particularly nurses and physiotherapists, on the other hand.