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Chapter-11 Care of Elderly Outside Operating Room

BOOK TITLE: Applied Geriatric Anesthesia

Author
1. Saxena Ashok Kr
2. Girotra Gautam
ISBN
9788184482706
DOI
10.5005/jp/books/10053_11
Edition
1/e
Publishing Year
2008
Pages
34
Author Affiliations
1. Pain Clinic, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi
2. University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, Max Superspecialty Hospital, Saket, New Delhi, India
Chapter keywords

Abstract

Medicine is an ever-changing science, and in this modern era, geriatric anaesthesia is emerging as well as progressing from a subspeciality to the mainstream of today’s anesthesia in and outside the operating room. An anesthesiologist is now as active outside as within the operating room, being a predominant resource in the intensive care, pain management, emergency and prehospital care.2 They are also more involved in primary domiciliary care, where, together with other physicians and categories of health care providers, they offer domiciliary pain management services and palliative care for various diseases at home, the environment preferred by the patient. What has evolved is the “peripatetic (a person who walks from place to place) anesthesiologist”—an appropriate term applied to anaes-thesiologists providing care in offsite locations. The demand for anaesthesia care outside the operating room continues to grow, driven by trends in advanced diagnostic techniques and the financial advantages of providing care out of the hospital setting. Within the next decade, it is estimated that 20-40 per cent of anaesthetic cases may be performed outside the operating rooms as per western data and around 10-15 per cent in India. An interdisciplinary approach that takes into account the physical and psychosocial needs of the geriatric patient and his/her family is essential. With younger generation, migrating in search of better and lucrative career prospects, caring for the elderly has become an elusive ideal. Eleven percent of elderly have no young people staying with them and 50 per cent of elderly widows live alone in India. These figures are going to have an exponential rise in next few decades. Fortunately in Indian family set-up, support provided by the family members cannot be underestimated. This must be enhanced and enriched instead of deriding it in the name of modernization.

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