This work fills a gap in the literature in presenting a collection of topics on acute geriatric care. Most chapters are structured as grand rounds, focused on clinical problems that have limited disclosure in textbooks, presented as a dialog between theory and practice, written by clinicians for clinicians. This collection is based on encounters between geriatricians and consultants, meant to resolve clinical problems; a collaboration where clinical experience and interdisciplinary exchange may supplant scanty guidelines. A multidisciplinary approach is also proposed to reduce functional decline of elderly patients, decrease length of hospital stays, and prevent nursing home admissions.

During the last decades, as the population grew older, gerontologically adjusted services became the norm for the highest standard of care. The Acute Care for Elderly Unit has been specifically devised to provide trained acute hospital care for elderly patients with geriatric syndromes, disabilities and frailty. Hospitalists and geriatricians find only limited guidance in the literature referring specifically to the management of acute disorders in elderly persons, having multiple comorbidities, geriatric syndromes, disabilities and frailty. For such conditions we have attempted to update the most recent evidence and define the frontiers of knowledge in the volumes Challenges in Acute Geriatric Care' in 2009 and Acute Geriatric Care' published in 2012. Fifty five case histories in this tome provide an insight into acute geriatric care: the patients, the problems and the physicians' skills concerned.

During the last decades as the population has become older, the demand for acute hospital care for elderly people has increased and gerontologically adjusted services have become the norm for the highest standard of care. Compared with younger adults, elderly patients have more severe illnesses, including worsened functional impairment and more frequent and longer hospitalisations. Additionally, diagnosis is often challenging because clinical presentations of common disorders may often be atypical in the elderly. When prescribing medications, physicians have to take into account the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes observed with ageing. This book fills the gap in the literature available on acute geriatric care.