Course Description:

With increasing life span, older patients are increasing both in overall numbers and as a proportion of the population. As a consequence, rehab therapists are more frequently seeing disorders common in this age group. It is important for rehab therapists to understand not only the geriatric disorders that they treat directly, but to have knowledge of other disorders that result primarily from aging that may impact therapy treatment. This course will assist the rehab therapy clinician to better understand each of the disorders presented, be vigilant for its occurrence in geriatric patients, communicate successfully with other providers about the disorder, and understand how each affects function of the geriatric client. In this course, we present 5 disorders that commonly occur in geriatric patients, primarily as a result of aging, including urinary and fecal incontinence, polypharmacy, malnutrition, and renal impairment. For each, the rehab therapist will learn how to define the disorder, apply criteria that makes the diagnosis, explain how the disorder affects geriatric function, communicate with other providers about the status of the disorder and how it affects the client’s function, and discuss the role of the rehab clinician. This is a valuable course for rehab therapists working in geriatric rehab.