Just as we all benefit when we all are better informed about health, everyone involved in the health care of older adults can benefit from learning to think more like a geriatrician. 

This means keeping certain guiding principles in mind. It also means watching for certain common pitfalls, when it comes to the medical care of aging adults.

In 2016, the most important principles of geriatric care were distilled down to a “4 Ms” model for age-friendly care:

• Mentation: preventing, identifying, treating and managing mental health and cognitive conditions
• Mobility: helping older adults avoid falls and remain mobile, for maximum independence
• Medication: optimizing medication use to avoid harm and improve health
• What Matters: ensuring that medical care addresses what matters most to an older person and is aligned with their specific health goals and care preferences

Problems in aging health are especially common when it comes to medications. So geriatricians always pay attention to what drugs have been prescribed, and why. Then we often improve an older person’s health by suggesting changes to their medications.

In this article, I’ll share five geriatrics medication safety truths that I often find myself explaining to families. They are what I always keep in mind as I do my work, as they are the foundation for better prescribing in aging adults, as well as for checking an older adult’s medications for safety and appropriateness.

I tell people these medication safety truths because I know that most older adults will not have their medications regularly reviewed by a geriatrician or geriatric pharmacist. 

But with the right knowledge, you’ll be better prepared to ask your doctors the right questions. This can help them address common oversights, and can improve the safety of your medications.

Here’s what you should know, along with tips on what you can do:

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Every May, the Administration for Community Living leads the national observance of “Older Americans Month.” The theme this year is “Champion Your Health.”

But to be honest, I prefer the theme from 2018, which was “Engage at Every Age.”

And I found myself thinking that this would be a nice opportunity to consider: just what does it mean to “succeed” or do well as an older adult?

This is important, because our understanding of what is “success,” and what to strive for, is fundamental to how we judge ourselves and others.

And for us as a society, articulating what’s involved in experiencing “good” or “successful” aging is important because it can help us understand what kinds of things we should focus on, to help more older adults age well, or otherwise “succeed” in late-life.

So, just as philosophers and others have long debated what it means to “live a good life,” we should ask ourselves what it means to “succeed” as an older adult.

This way, we can know whether we are “succeeding” as a society that supports and values its older population.

I also did a video elaborating on what it means to be “aging successfully”, which can be found on my Youtube channel.

What IS “successful aging?”

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