Changi General Hospital - Geriatric Medicine

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The Geriatric Medicine Division specialises in managing patients who are 65 years or older. This is because those above this age may be more frail, and require more attention in many areas of their life that could affect their well-being, namely: medical, nursing, functional, psychological, social, environmental and financial. Chronological age is not the only measure we use to decide who requires geriatric medicine care. These older persons usually have one or more of the following problems:

Poor mobility (due to weakness, joint problems or unsteadiness in gait) and or difficulties with activities of daily living (like dressing, bathing,
feeding, grooming)
Poor or declining cognition (depression, poor memory and suspected dementia)
Incontinence of urine or bowel, and problems of constipation
Multiple medical problems (requiring multiple medications)

Our Philosophy

Recognising that older patients tend to have more than one medical / functional / care problem, we aim to provide comprehensive management. Hence, instead of having our patient visit 3 or 4 different specialists, the geriatrician is trained to handle a wide variety of conditions. We coordinate the care and needs of both the older person and the family, and advise them on how community support can be used optimally.

We encourage independence among our older patients, encouraging them whenever possible to do things for themselves. Basically, we aim to enhance quality of life.

Services We Provide

Geriatric Medicine further provides more services, including:

Geriatric assessment
A comprehensive assessment that includes assessing various aspects of the cognitive, physical, medical and psychosocial aspects contributing to the well-being of the elderly person. These include cognition, continence, nutrition, physical and psychosocial aspects.
Geriatric rehabilitation
Rehabilitation of elderly patients is difficult because they often have many pre-existing chronic illnesses. The Division provides intensive rehabilitation programmes for elderly persons, supervised by the geriatrician in charge. Rehabilitation includes home visits and consultation for home modifications for the safety and independence of the patient at home.
Geriatric Centre
Geriatric Centre houses both the Geriatric Specialist Clinics and Geriatric Day Hospital. The Geriatric Day Hospital provides geriatric assessment and rehabilitation in a day care setting. Patients will attend the Day Hospital from morning to afternoon. There, they will receive medical and nursing care and physical therapy.
Specialist Clinics
This provides for follow up of patients discharged from the wards, or referrals from General Practitioners for specialist management.
Continence Clinic
The geriatrician will be able to assess the elderly person with urinary or bowel incontinence, and where required, urodynamic assessments (using specialised computerised equipment) can be done.
Falls Clinic
Provides an assessment of falls for people who have experienced a fall. The assessment is conducted by a geriatrician, physiotherapist and nurse specialist and will recommend appropriate intructions to prevent further falls.

Please visit our Health Library for the online copy of Skills for Life: Homecare.

Staff Members
For information on our staff, please click here.