Oxford Handbook of Geriatric Medicine

About this Book

• An award winning hands-on guide to the care of the older patient
• Provides guidance on the ethical and clinical dilemmas common to geriatric practice
• Includes 'How to' boxes providing practical advice on common problems
• Takes a problem-based approach to assist the clinician in tackling scenarios where the diagnosis may not be clear

In an ageing population, geriatric medicine has become central to general practice, and to emergency and general internal medicine in the hospital setting. Diseases are more common in the older person, and can be particularly difficult to assess and to treat effectively in a field that has limited evidence, yet makes up a substantial proportion of the work of most clinicians. Fully updated, this second edition of the Oxford Handbook of Geriatric Medicine includes all the information required to deliver effective geriatric care. Guidance is given on a range of key treatment areas, indicating where practice differs from that of younger adults or is ill informed by evidence, where dangers lurk for the inexperienced clinician, and on the many ethical and clinical dilemmas common in geriatric practice. This accessible handbook is essential reading for all junior doctors and specialist trainees in geriatric medicine and general internal medicine, and for all medical and nursing staff who manage older people.

Readership: Essential reading for F1s, F2s, and STs in geriatric medicine and general internal medicine, clinical medical students, clinical assistants and other non-consultant career grade hospital doctors. It will also be useful to GPs, specialist nurses, and doctors working outside geriatric medicine who manage older people.

New to this edition

• Many new and updated sections with substantial increase in the number of the very popular 'How to...' boxes
• Covers recent developments in stroke/TIA
• Updated Ethics section to include changes due to Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
• More flowcharts and figures supporting clinical management advice makes the book easier to use in a practical setting

Reviews

"This is an excellent book. It is succinct yet easy to read ... there are useful little boxes of 'How To's e.g. How To Give Sub-Cut Fluids, Use Digoxin, Assess Depression etc. I thought I know how to do many of these tips but I still found then useful and interesting. This is a useful book for anyone spending time looking after old patients."
- BMA Medical Book Competition (from a review of the previous edition

"...this is a brilliantly crafted book and a wonderful contribution to the field."
- Doody's Notes (from a review of the previous edition)

Table of Contents

1. Ageing
2. Organizing geriatric services
3. Clinical assessment of older people
4. Rehabilitation
5. Falls and funnny turns
6. Drugs
7. Neurology
8. Stroke
9. Psychiatry
10. Cardiovascular medicine
11. Chest medicine
12. Gastroenterology
13. Renal medicine
14. Homeostasis
15. Endocrinology
16. Haematology
17. Musculoskeletal system
18. Pressure injuries
19. Genitourinary medicine
20. Incontinence
21. Ears
22. Eyes
23. Skin
24. Infection and immunity
25. Malignancy
26. Death and dying
27. Ethics
28. Finances

Author Information

Lesley Bowker, Consultant in Medicine for the Elderly, Norfolk and Norwich University Foundation Hospital, and Clinical Skills Director and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK, James Price, Consultant in Acute General and Geriatric Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals, UK, and Sarah Smith, Consultant in Acute General and Geriatric Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals, UK

Dr Lesley Bowker qualified in 1990 from Southampton, completing further training in Wessex (SHO and registrar jobs) and Oxford (senior registrar) followed by a year in Perth, Australia as a senior lecturer. She was a 'career geriatrician' from early days and developed a research interest in practical clinical ethics especially relating to older people. Her DM thesis (awarded from Southampton in 2003) was in the practical and ethical issues surrounding life-sustaining treatment in the elderly person. Her consultant appointment at Norwich in 2002 allows her to combine clinical work with education as the clinical skills director for the school of medicine at UEA. She obtained her Marsters in Clinical Education in 2011.

Dr Sarah Smith trained at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1994. She went on to do house jobs and an SHO rotation at her training hospital, which is where she developed an interest in geriatric medicine. After an ITU post in Brighton, she joined the SpR training scheme for geriatrics and GIM in the Oxford region, completing in 2003. Dr Smith was appointed as a consultant in Community Geriatrics and GIM for the Oxford University Hospitals in 2004, and her main interests are the acute/community interface, stroke rehabilitation and clinical governance.