title: Preoperative testing and medication management.
abstract: The preoperative evaluation of the geriatric patient is an important time to make a series of assessments. Careful attention is paid to cardiac and pulmonary readiness for the physiologic stress of surgery. It is also a time to focus on the patient's mental capacities and social support system, and nutritional state. Because so many patients take multiple medications and supplements, the preoperative assessment is also a time to carefully review exactly what it being taken. It is a time to assess for drug interactions, and also to adjust medications to prepare the patient for the stress of surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1475 NW 12 Avenue M866, Miami, FL 33136, USA. jwoolger@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Judi M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Woolger
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D004358:Drug Therapy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D011300:Preoperative Care