American Geriatrics Society Abstracted Clinical Practice Guideline for Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults

The abstracted set of recommendations presented here provides essential guidance both on the prevention of postoperative delirium in older patients at risk of delirium and on the treatment of older surgical patients with delirium, and is based on the 2014 American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Guideline. The full version of the guideline, American Geriatrics Society Clinical Practice Guideline for Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults is available at the website of the AGS. The overall aims of the study were twofold: first, to present nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions that should be implemented perioperatively for the prevention of postoperative delirium in older adults; and second, to present nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions that should be implemented perioperatively for the treatment of postoperative delirium in older adults. Prevention recommendations focused on primary prevention (i.e., preventing delirium before it occurs) in patients who are at risk for postoperative delirium (e.g., those identified as moderate-to-high risk based on previous risk stratification models such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, Delirium: Diagnosis, Prevention and Management. Clinical Guideline 103; London (UK): 2010 July 29). For management of delirium, the goals of this guideline are to decrease delirium severity and duration, ensure patient safety and improve outcomes

Geriatric Medicine

The two essential bodies of knowledge that comprise the science of geriatrics are gerontology and geriatric medicine. Gerontology (from the Greek γέρων, geron, “old man” and -λογία, -logia, “study of,” coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903) is the branch of basic sciences that explores the process of aging, with the focus on the psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. Geriatric medicine, or geriatrics (from the Greek γέρων geron meaning “old man” and ιατρός iatros meaning “medicine related,” coined by Ignatz Leo Nascher), is the branch of medicine that deals with the problems and diseases of old age and aging people [1]