Efficiency, Safety, Quality, and Empathy: Balancing Competing Perioperative Challenges in the Elderly.

Although baby boomer generation accounts for a little more than 15% of the US population, the cohort represents a disproportionate percentage of patients undergoing surgery. As this group continues to age, a multitude of challenges have arisen in health care regarding the safest and most effective means of providing anesthesia services to these patients. Many elderly patients may be exquisitely sensitive to the effects of anesthesia and surgery and may experience cognitive and physical decline before, during, or after hospital admission. In this review article, the authors briefly examine the physiologic processes underlying aging and explore steps necessary to deliver safe, empathetic care.