ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the comprehensive geriatric assessment, which is the functional assessment of the older adult, which can be used by all practitioners working in multidisciplinary teams. It presents an assessment and measurement tools that are available easily, particularly on public domains, and can be administered with time efficiency and at little or no cost. An emerging new paradigm is geriatric assessment units, which favorably affect health status, functional activities, and discharge to more independent living. Functional status refers to the individual’s ability to move and perform activities of daily living and mobility. Cognitive assessments should include history and a search for delirium precipitants such as medical disease including infections and drug interactions because precipitants to delirium may be occult or atypical. Older adults are vulnerable to functional decline leading to disability, due to their decreased physiological reserves and decreased compensatory strategies when there is illness or injury.
