Rehabilitation of the geriatric surgical patient: predicting needs and optimizing outcomes.

Geriatric surgical and trauma patients often require institutionalization following acute hospitalization, generally related to frailty. The potential need for rehabilitation can be assessed using various tools. Once the likelihood of rehabilitation needs is established, early involvement of the rehabilitation team is warranted. Rehabilitation interventions can be initiated during acute hospitalization, and even in the intensive care unit. The rehabilitation team addresses a tremendous spectrum of issues, and targeted interventions are carried out by various team members. There are many gaps in current knowledge of the benefits of rehabilitation interventions. Understanding common standardized assessment tools is important to assess the literature and advance the field.