Clinician's Guide to Geriatric Assessment.

The population of older adults is rapidly growing worldwide. Because of the substantial shortage of geriatricians, all clinicians need basic fluency in older adult care. In our approach to evaluating an older adult in the clinic or at the bedside, we apply the "Geriatric 5Ms" framework to manage the patient's care.

A Nurse-Led Algorithm for Diagnosing Urinary Tract Infection in Homebound Older Adults.

Purpose: We designed a nurse-led algorithm to standardize urinary tract infection (UTI) diagnosis for older adults receiving home-based medical care. Aims of this pilot quality improvement study were to reduce the frequency of empiric antibiotic therapy initiated without a urinalysis and urine culture (UA/UC) first being obtained, reduce antibiotic use without a concomitant increase in emergency department (ED) visits or hospital admissions, and ensure stakeholders' satisfaction with algorithm use.

Method: A nurse-led diagnostic algorithm was designed and pilot-tested to address challenges and standardize diagnosis of UTI in a population of homebound older adults.

Pain, Opioid Analgesics, and Cognition: A Conceptual Framework in Older Adults.

Chronic pain is highly prevalent in older adults and is associated with poor functional outcomes. Furthermore, opioid analgesics are commonly utilized for the treatment of pain in older adults despite well-described adverse effects. Importantly, both chronic pain and opioid analgesics have been linked with impairments in cognitive function, though data are limited.

Role of senescence in the chronic health consequences of COVID-19.

While the full impact of COVID-19 is not yet clear, early studies have indicated that upwards of 10% of patients experience COVID-19 symptoms longer than 3 weeks, known as Long-Hauler's Syndrome or PACS (postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection). There is little known about risk factors or predictors of susceptibility for Long-Hauler's Syndrome, but older adults are at greater risk for severe outcomes and mortality from COVID-19. The pillars of aging (including cellular senescence, telomere dysfunction, impaired proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, deregulated nutrient sensing, genomic instability, progenitor cell exhaustion, altered intercellular communication, and epigenetic alterations) that contribute to age-related dysfunction and chronic diseases (the "Geroscience Hypothesis") may interfere with defenses against viral infection and consequences of these infections.

Fisetin for COVID-19 in skilled nursing facilities: Senolytic trials in the COVID era.

The burden of senescent cells (SnCs), which do not divide but are metabolically active and resistant to death by apoptosis, is increased in older adults and those with chronic diseases. These individuals are also at the greatest risk for morbidity and mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 complications include cytokine storm and multiorgan failure mediated by the same factors as often produced by SnCs through their senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP).

Design and Implementation of a Skilled Nursing Facility COVID-19 Unit.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged the health care system's capacity to care for acutely ill patients. In a collaborative partnership between a health system and a skilled nursing facility (SNF), we developed and implemented an SNF COVID-19 unit to allow expedited hospital discharge of COVID-positive older adults who are clinically improving, and to provide an alternative to hospitalization for those who require SNF care but do not require or necessarily desire aggressive disease-modifying interventions.

Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Chronic Wounds in Older Adults.

Chronic wounds are common, disproportionately affect older adults, and are likely to be encountered by providers across all specialties and care settings. All providers should be familiar with basic wound prevention, identification, classification, and treatment approach, all of which are outlined in this article.

Palliative Medicine and Preparedness Planning for Patients Receiving Left Ventricular Assist Device as Destination Therapy-Challenges to Measuring Impact and Change in Institutional Culture.

Context: Although left ventricular assist devices as destination therapy (DT-LVAD) can improve survival, quality of life, and functional capacity in well-selected patients with advanced heart failure, there remain unique challenges to providing quality end-of-life care in this population. Palliative care involvement is universally recommended, but how to best operationalize this care and measure success is unknown.

Objectives: To characterize the process of preparedness planning (PP) for patients receiving DT-LVAD at our institution and better understand opportunities for quality improvement or procedural transferability.

Targeted therapy in advanced urothelial carcinoma.

Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is a common and deadly cancer in the United States. While molecularly targeted therapies have been integrated into the standard-of-care management of other solid tumors in recent years, the use of targeted therapy in UC has lagged behind. Accordingly, the management of advanced disease, along with outcomes, has remained largely unchanged for the past 2 decades.

Improved resident physician confidence with advance care planning after an ambulatory clinic intervention.

Many primary care providers feel uncomfortable discussing end-of-life care. The aim of this intervention was to assess internal medicine residents' advance care planning (ACP) practices and improve residents' ACP confidence. Residents participated in a facilitated ACP quality improvement workshop, which included an interactive presentation and chart audit of their own patients.

An observational study of plasma vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) A and D expression in non-localized prostate cancer.

Background: The aim of the study was to measure plasma levels of the vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) A and D in serially collected blood specimens from non-localized prostate cancer (PCa) subjects.

Methods: Plasma VEGF A and D levels were measured in two serial specimens 3-6 months apart in two groups of non-localized stage PCa patients. Group 1 was comprised of patients with biochemical relapse after localized PCa treatments and/or patients with clinically metastatic hormone-sensitive stage PCa prior to receiving hormonal therapy.

High prevalence of tcdC deletion-carrying Clostridium difficile and lack of association with disease severity.

We assessed the prevalence of tcdC deletion-carrying Clostridium difficile using a stool polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that detects previously described 18- and 39-bp deletions (J. Clin. Microbiol.

Effect of telephoned notification of positive Clostridium difficile test results on the time to the ordering of antimicrobial therapy.

The time between electronic-medical-record reporting of a positive result of a test for Clostridium difficile toxin in stool and the ordering of antimicrobial therapy was compared during consecutive periods when results were not telephoned (n = 274) and when results were telephoned (n = 90) to the clinical service. The mean times to the ordering of antimicrobial therapy were 11.9 and 3.