As you all know Pediatricians are doctors who take care of children. As children are not merely a “small adult”, their physical, emotional, and social needs are different from adults. Their body behaves and responds differently to diseases as compared to adults and hence they need a specialist to care for them. 

Similarly, Geriatricians are doctors specialized in taking care of older adults. 

Geriatric Medicine is the medical specialty concerned with diseases and health problems of older people, usually those over 55 years of age. 

As we age our mind and body become more vulnerable (weak and easy to hurt physically or emotionally). Increased vulnerability brought by age is associated with decline in physiological reserve and function across multiple organ systems.

Older adults tend to suffer from multiple medical issues at the same time. They experience functional decline or physical frailty. Older adults are at higher risk to have diseases associated with aging, such as dementia (memory problems), incontinence (not able to control urine) or osteoporosis (brittle bones) etc. 

Geriatric Medicine specialists are well trained and experienced in managing older adults with complex medical problems and prioritize the conditions and medications to maximize the patient’s physical functioning and well-being.

Many older adults, for instance, take multiple medicines to treat a number of conditions. Their kidney functions deteriorate over time and that affects how they metabolize medicines. Geriatricians are well-versed in drug side effects and the negative effects that may occur from taking multiple drugs. They can help prioritize which drugs are necessary and which can be skipped.

Geriatricians are experts in seeing the big picture. Geriatric Medicine specialists are trained in managing older adults from primary care to critical care setting to end of life care. 

Additionally, geriatricians typically are familiar with the complexity of older patients’ multimorbidity, polypharmacy, atypical disease presentation, uncertainty of indicated management (due to scarcity of clinical guidelines applicable to frail older adults), and increased risk of side effects of treatments and interventions.

Here’s a short list of what happens health-wise as people age:

• The mind and body become more vulnerable. This means that people become more sensitive to things like stress, injuries, illnesses, and medication side-effects.
• Multiple chronic illnesses. Most chronic illnesses become more common as people age. As people get older, it’s not uncommon to have 3 or more chronic health conditions. These can have overlapping symptoms and sometimes interact. Also, people often end up with a lot of pills and self-healthcare to manage.
• Chronic impairments of the body or mind. Eventually many people have some part of the body or mind that doesn’t work as well as it used to. Although some problems can be treated or reversed, most older adults eventually develop chronic difficulties that require them and their families to change things somewhat.
• Geriatric syndromes. These include problems such as falls, dementia, incontinence, pain, geriatric depression, and declines in independence. 
• Chronic caregiver involvement. Most people, as they age, will eventually get help from family or others in managing some of their health and life tasks.

The specialty of geriatrics was developed because patients and doctors realized that a different approach is needed, when older adults start to be affected by the issues above.