Multidisciplinary Gerontological Assessment

This course presents the concepts of normal ageing and the common abnormalities or conditions that afflict older persons leading to a need for comprehensive, multidisciplinary gerontological/geriatric assessment. It also addresses the basic principles governing gerontological assessment procedures and the primary applications of assessment in aged care. Examples and critique of some commonly used standardised assessment instruments are presented along with a specific basic assessment tool developed for use in primary and community care settings that has been developed in Europe - the 'Elderly Assessment System' or EASYcare. At the end of this topic students should be able to describe the usual changes occurring with age in the full range of mental and physical functions; Identify the more common states of dysfunction occurring in older persons that require further investigation; Distinguish between 'normal' and 'abnormal' (pathological) findings in a physical and mental assessment of an older person; Describe the underlying principles behind multidisciplinary gerontological assessment; Identify the principle applications and rationale for assessment in various situations; Describe the main elements in multidisciplinary assessment; Specify the main factors facilitating and inhibiting effective multidisciplinary assessment in practice; Confidently apply, record and evaluate an EASYcare assessment in a community setting; Identify specific needs of an older person using an EASYcare assessment; Describe all of the elements in the EASYcare assessment model and application of these in practice; Specify the main factors involved in the practical application of multidisciplinary assessment in a community setting.