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Geriatric Assessment
What is geriatric assessment?
A comprehensive evaluation designed to optimize an older person's ability to enjoy good health, improve their overall quality of life, reduce the need for hospitalization and/or institutionalization, and enable them to live independently for as long as possible.
An assessment consists of:
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Examination of the older person's current status in terms of:
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Physical, mental, and psycho-social health
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Ability to function well and to independently perform basic activities of daily living such as dressing, bathing meal preparation, medication management, etc.
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Living arrangements, social network, and access to support services.
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Identification of current problems or anticipated problems in any of these areas.
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Comprehensive Care Plan which addresses all problems, suggests actions required, and makes recommendations for support services.
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Link between support services, the person and his family to assure provision of necessary services.
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Monitoring of the extent to which support services have addressed the problems identified and modification of the Care Plan as needed.
How do you know when a geriatric assessment is needed?
Geriatric assessment would be appropriate when there is a dramatic change in a person’s level of functioning or when there are persistent or intermittent symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, or other signs of possible dementia. Sometimes what looks like Alzheimer's or dementia can be the result of medication interactions or other medical or psychiatric problems. Because of the thoroughness of the geriatric assessment, it is one of the best ways to determine what the actual problem is.
Who performs a geriatric assessment?
A geriatric assessment can be done in many different settings such as: a hospital, nursing home, outpatient clinic, physician's office or the patient's home. The assessment is comprehensive in scope, and thus, can only be successfully conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of experts. This team might include: physicians, social workers, physical and/or occupational therapists, dieticians, psychologists, pharmacists, and geriatric nurse practitioners.
You can request a referral for a geriatric assessment from a primary care physician or contact a Geriatric Assessment Center.
Geriatric Assessment Centers
You must call to make an appointment with any of these facilities.
Anna Greenwall
Geriatric Health at Monmouth Medical Center
300 Second Ave, Long Branch NJ 07740
732-222-5200
Center for Geriatric Health Care
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
201 Lyons Ave, Newark NJ 07112
973-926-8491
Comprehensive Services on Aging (COPSA) Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders
Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care
800-424-2494 helpline
Hunterdon Center for Healthy Aging
121 Route 31, Suite 1000, Flemington NJ 08822
908-788-6373
Geriatric Assessment Center at Morristown Medical Center
435 South St, Morristown NJ 07960
973-971-7022
New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging
42 East Laurel Rd, Stratford NJ 08084
856-566-6843
Saint Peter's University Hospital Geriatric Medicine
254 Easton Ave, New Brunswick NJ 08901
732-745-8600