The age of the population is increasing dramatically, and the age of the surgical population parallels that of the general population. This is occurring at a time when there are fewer health care providers with geriatric expertise in all disciplines. All health care providers must be knowledgeable about the normal changes of aging and must understand communication challenges with older adult patients. Health care providers must understand the specific risks and benefits of surgery and perform a complete individualized preoperative assessment to improve older adult patients' outcomes.
As the population grows and the proportion of older adults increases, the incidence and prevalence of dementia are expected to increase dramatically. Health care providers' lack of awareness of current geriatrics practice and persistence in holding the outdated belief that confusion is a normal part of aging contribute to significant under recognition of dementia in all settings. Early recognition and diagnosis are critical to carrying out best practices in the care of older patients. The Mini-Cog is a simple, effective, easily administered screening tool that can uncover cognitive impairment in its earliest stages. The tool consists of a three-item recall task and a simple clock-drawing task. The Mini-Cog takes only three to five minutes to administer and requires minimal training. For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to http://links.lww.com/A204.
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