The Geriatric Medicine Handbook: Practical Guidance for Falls, Cognition, Polypharmacy, Frailty, and Goals-of-Care Conversations

The Geriatric Medicine Handbook is a practical guide to the clinical problems that can quickly change an older adult's safety, independence, and quality of life.A fall may reveal frailty, medication effects, poor vision, gait instability, dehydration, or an unsafe home environment. New confusion may reflect delirium, dementia, infection, pain, drug toxicity, or a change in baseline function. A long medication list may be causing more harm than benefit. A serious illness conversation may be less about a disease label and more about what the patient values most.This handbook helps readers approach those decisions with structure.What You Will Find Inside- Clear guidance for evaluating falls, gait problems, mobility decline, home safety, and risk of future injury- Practical approaches to delirium, dementia, depression, cognitive screening, behavioral symptoms, and caregiver concerns- Medication-safety tools for polypharmacy, adverse drug effects, deprescribing, reconciliation, and safer prescribing in older adults- Clinical frameworks for frailty, functional decline, nutrition, continence, pain, sleep, chronic illness, and multimorbidity- Guidance for goals-of-care conversations, advance care planning, serious illness communication, caregiver support, and care transitions- Decision points for when an older adult needs urgent evaluation, specialist input, rehabilitation, long-term care support, or closer follow-upWritten for geriatricians, internists, primary care clinicians, hospitalists, residents, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and serious learners, The Geriatric Medicine Handbook is designed for real-world care across clinic, hospital, home, and long-term care settings.It is not simply a disease reference for older patients. It is a structured clinical companion for preserving function, reducing preventable harm, and aligning medical decisions with what matters most to the person receiving care.