The elderly represent the fastest growing segment of the population in developed countries, reflected in the patient population presenting to EDs and hospitals. These patients more often than not have greater co-morbidities, more complicated workups and utilize more laboratory and radiologic services.
This text is designed to teach emergency physicians how best to care for this specific demographic of patients. It addresses physiologic changes, high-risk conditions, and atypical presentations associated with elderly patients in the ED that result in frequent misdiagnosis or delays in diagnosis. It instructs the readers how best to care for elderly patients in order to minimize morbidity and mortality, addressing some of the difficult psychosocial issues that confront health care providers that care for elderly patients, such as psychiatric disease and end-of-life care. The utility of this text is not limited to emergency physicians, but it should be useful to all health care providers involved in the treatment of elderly patients with acute medical or surgical conditions.

List of Contributors vii1 General assessment of the elderly patient 1Alison Southern & Scott Wilber2 Physiologic changes with aging 13Kate D. Zimmerman & Robert S. Anderson, Jr.3 Functional assessment of the elderly 28Kirk A. Stiffler4 Pharmacological issues in the elderly 43Ruben Olmedo & Denise Nassisi5 Altered mental status in the elderly 58Josh Joseph & Maura Kennedy6 Geriatric psychiatric emergencies 71Josh Joseph & Maura Kennedy7 Acute abdominal pain in the elderly: Surgical causes 83Katren Tyler & Maura Kennedy8 Nonsurgical abdominal pain in the elderly 99Katren Tyler & Maura Kennedy9 Back pain 110Nicholas Santavicca & Michael E. Winters10 Headache 123Benjamin W. Friedman & Rebecca Nerenberg11 Dyspnea in the elderly 139Mercedes Torres & Siamak Moayedi12 Acute chest pain in the geriatric patient 152Marianne Haughey13 Acute cardiac disease in elder patients 168Susanne DeMeester14 Syncope in Geriatrics 191Timothy C Peck, Nissa J Ali & Shamai A Grossman15 Stroke 203Julie Watkins-Torrey, Roxanna Sadri & Kama Guluma16 Infections 218Jason Ondrejka & Scott Wilber17 Dizziness and vertigo in the geriatric population 234Jonathan Edlow & Alessandro Cancelliere18 Weakness and functional decline 252Colleen M McQuown19 Emergency department evaluation of falls in the elderly 264Tania D. Strout & Robert S. Anderson20 Trauma in the geriatric patient 280Christopher R. Carpenter & Peter L. Rosen21 Surgical considerations in the elderly 304Charles W. O'Connell, Davut Savaser & Colleen Campbell22 Oncologic emergencies 321Gabriel Wardi, Alexander Bromfield & Leslie C. Oyama23 Elder abuse and neglect 351Michael C. Bond & Kenneth H. Butler24 Geriatric emergency pain management case 363Teresita M Hogan & Alexandra Wong25 Ethical issues and end-of-life care 386Phillip D. Magidson & Jon Mark Hirshon26 Geriatric dispositions and transitions of care 394Barbara Morano, Carmen Morano, Kevin Biese, Eric A. Coleman & Ula Hwang27 The geriatric ED, 407Phillip D. Magidson, John G. Schumacher & Elizabeth A. CouserIndex 417