37342 - Medical Clinic of Aging (A-K)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module the student:

- knows the demographic data of the Italian population and the general international indications in the geriatric field, with an ethical and assistance value;

- knows the methodological bases of clinical reasoning to diagnose large geriatric syndromes, slow-moving systemic diseases and comorbidities;

- can apply to the patient the principles of differential diagnosis and prognosis for diseases and syndromes of greater severity and prevalence in the elderly of our country;

- knows how to frame the health status of the old, understood as a person, as a patient and as a subject inserted in specific contexts (home, hospital, nursing home, RSA);

- knows how to integrate old patient management strategies with each other, using all available human and technological resources and facilities;

- can communicate with the elderly patient, with his relatives and with the professional health figures, in particular on the subject of death, suffering and decay;

- knows indications and contraindications of the main diagnostic and therapeutic measures, including invasive, in adults, in the elderly and in the ultra-octogenarian;

- knows how to set up therapeutic programs, also oriented towards prevention and rehabilitation, for the most frequent geriatric syndromes according to international guidelines;

- can use the main means of e-care, telemedicine, e-health, computerized medical record, etc. that can be used in geriatric medicine.

Course contents

1. Aging processes at the cellular and tissue level; the aging of organs and apparatuses. Demography of aging and society. Frailty. 

2. Changes in body composition in aging. Malnutrition and swallowing disorders. Obesity and sarcopenia.

3. Geriatric comprehensive assessment. Most common tools for evaluating the elderly patient (MMSE, GDS, ADL, IADL, Tinetti).

4. Outpatient services for older people. Functional consequences of aging. Relations between functions, health and disability: their social impact; more frequent causes of disability and their classification. Rehabilitation.

5. Polypharmacy and iatrogenesis.

6. Osteoporosis and frctures.

7. Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in the elderly.

8. Cognitive disorders of older people

9. Depression and delirium.

10. Disequilibrium and falls.

11. Bedrest, incontinence, dehydration.

12. Diabetes, infections in the elderly, geriatric palliative medicine, abuse. 

Readings/Bibliography

One of these three books in italian:

Bosello Ottavio; Zamboni Mauro - Manuale di Gerontologia e Geriatria - Ed. Piccin, Nuova Libraria

Senin Umberto; Cherubini Antonio; Mecocci Patrizia - Paziente Anziano Paziente Geriatrico Medicina della Compessità Fondamenti di Gerontologia e Geriatria - Ed. EdiSES

Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi; Matteo Cesari; Dario Leosco; Claudio Pedone; Andrea Ungar; Stefano Volpato - Manuale di geriatria

Teaching methods

Public frontal lessons with Powerpoint presentations that will be made available to students at the end of class.

Assessment methods

At the end of the Course, an exam will verify the level of knowledge of the arguments of the Course content. The exam consist in an oral individual test that comprises an evaluation as a grade of out of 30. The final grade of the Course is defined by the average of the votes reported in two questions about specific topics relevant to the educational objectives of the Course.

Teaching tools

Oral lectures with slides.

Language of teaching: italian.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Forti