Surgery and Geriatric Medicine: Toward Greater Integration and Collaboration

Geriatrics is a strong common bond linking the medical and surgical specialties, because much of surgical practice involves older persons. Indeed, many of the largest surgical specialties primarily serve patients aged 65 and older, including ophthalmology (88%), cardiothoracic surgery (70%), urology (65%), general surgery (60%), and orthopedic surgery (51%).1 It is not surprising, then, that these same specialties are also the ones with the greatest projected need for more manpower as the population continues to age,2 so familiarity with and incorporation of geriatric principles is increasingly a necessary element of surgical practice.