This care may benefit those who are managing multiple chronic conditions or experiencing significant age-related complications that threaten quality of daily life.

A guiding mnemonic commonly used by geriatricians in the United States and Canada is the 5 M's of Geriatrics which describes mind, mobility, multicomplexity, medications and matters most to elicit patient values.

Geriatrics is highly interdisciplinary consisting of specialty providers from the fields of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and physical and occupational therapy.

Some elderly people may find it hard to describe their symptoms in words, especially if the disease is causing confusion, or if they have cognitive impairment.

Geriatricians encounter MCI patients in various care settings, with diagnoses relying on clinical assessment and mental status examinations (Tangalos & Petersen, 2018).

While MCI is considered a high-risk condition for developing Alzheimer's disease, there is heterogeneity in its presentation and outcomes (Petersen et al., 2001).

Dementia is a prevalent condition in geriatric populations, affecting cognitive function and daily activities (Talawar, 2018; Mirzapure et al., 2022).

Geriatricians play a crucial role in dementia care, but many feel current training is inadequate and seek more structured experiences (Mayne et al., 2014).

Geriatricians support comprehensive post-diagnosis information provision, including sensitive topics like advance care planning (Mansfield et al., 2022).

A geriatrics perspective emphasizes prevention, considering lifestyle factors that promote healthy cognitive aging (Steffens, 2018).

[9] Pharmacodynamic changes lead to altered sensitivity to drugs in geriatric patients, such as increased pain relief with morphine use.

It is associated with an acquired difficulty in performing basic everyday tasks resulting in an increased dependence of other individuals and/or medical devices.

Activities of daily living (ADL) are fundamental skills needed to care for oneself, including feeding, personal hygiene, toileting, transferring and ambulating.

Routine monitoring of ADL and IADL is an important functional assessment used by clinicians to determine the extent of support and care to provide to elderly adults and their caregivers.

[16] Falls are the leading cause of emergency department admissions and hospitalizations in adults age 65 and older, many of which result in significant injury and permanent disability.

Modifiable factors include: Urinary incontinence or overactive bladder symptoms is defined as unintentionally urinating oneself.

[20] As malnutrition can occur due to a combination of physiologic, pathologic, psychologic and socioeconomic factors, it can be difficult to identify effective interventions.

[21] Physiologic factors include reduced smell and taste, and a decreased metabolic rate affecting nutritional food intake.

Unintentional weight loss can result from pathologic factors, including a wide range of chronic diseases that affect cognitive function, directly impact digestion (e.g. poor dentition, gastrointestinal cancers, gastroesophageal reflux disease) or may be managed with dietary restrictions (e.g. congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, hypertension).

[22] One frailty scale uses five items: unintentional weight loss, muscle weakness, exhaustion, low physical activity, and slowed walking speed.

Alexander of Tralles viewed the process of aging as a natural and inevitable form of marasmus, caused by the loss of moisture in body tissue.

Byzantine physicians typically drew on the works of Oribasius and recommended that elderly patients consume a diet rich in foods that provide "heat and moisture".

[26] In The Canon of Medicine, written by Avicenna in 1025, the author was concerned with how "old folk need plenty of sleep" and how their bodies should be anointed with oil, and recommended exercises such as walking or horse-riding.

Thesis III of the Canon discussed the diet suitable for old people, and dedicated several sections to elderly patients who become constipated.

Using her experiences as a physician in a London Workhouse infirmary, she believed that merely keeping older people fed until they died was not enough; they needed diagnosis, treatment, care, and support.

The model of care practiced by geriatricians is heavily focused on addressing working closely with other disciplines such as nurses, pharmacists, therapists, and social workers.

Many universities across Canada also offer gerontology training programs for the general public, such that nurses and other health care professionals can pursue further education in the discipline in order to better understand the process of aging and their role in the presence of older patients and residents.

[47] Psychological considerations include the fact that elderly persons (in particular, those experiencing substantial memory loss or other types of cognitive impairment) are unlikely to be able to adequately monitor and adhere to their own scheduled pharmacological administration.

They may have previously prepared a power of attorney and advance directives to provide guidance if they are unable to understand what is happening to them, whether this is due to long-term dementia or to a short-term, correctable problem, such as delirium from a fever.

Family education and support programs conducted by mental health professionals may also be beneficial for elderly patients to learn how to set limits with relatives with psychiatric disorders without causing conflict that leads to abuse.