Is it time for comprehensive geriatric assessment to move beyond primary care? The case for targeting medical sub-specialty practice

Great nephrologists begin with great teachers: update on the nephrology curriculum

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The purpose of this review is to highlight developments and opportunities in the nephrology curriculum from the basic science foundation years through teaching medical students, residents and fellows in the clinical realm.

RECENT FINDINGS

Teaching skills are a vital tool for nephrologists both to promote excellent patient care and attract talented learners to the field. Exposure to dynamic and inspiring nephrologists is one of the main factors given by students and residents for selecting a career in nephrology. Nephrology teaching, including case discussions, problem-based learning, team-based learning and flipped classrooms, provides motivating active learning for medical students and is equally effective for didactics in graduate medical education. Avenues for teaching in the clinical realm include the microskills framework, bedside teaching and grounding in evidence-based medicine. Areas of growth include blended nephrology/subspecialty fields as well as social media applications.

SUMMARY

Medical education is a satisfying and exciting area of growth in the field of nephrology. The recent literature provides a framework for best practices in active learning as well as providing numerous examples of educational interventions and innovations. In addition, this field is ripe for further development and scholarly activity.

Frailty in the older person undergoing elective surgery: a trigger for enhanced multidisciplinary management - a narrative review

BACKGROUND

The ageing of our society has led to increasing numbers of older people requiring elective surgical procedures. Preoperative frailty is a strong predictor of adverse post-operative outcomes. This review aims to summarize the evidence for interventions aimed at improving outcomes in frail older people who may undergo elective surgery.

METHODS

Articles published on perioperative management of frailty between 1 January 1970 and 31 May 2019 were searched using PubMed and EMBASE.

RESULTS

We identified very few studies investigating such interventions, such as comprehensive geriatric assessment, prehabilitation (alone or as a multicomponent strategy) and other multicomponent interventions. Administration of a comprehensive geriatric assessment was shown to be associated with reduced mortality, fewer complications and shorter length of hospital stay, and may be best targeted towards those who are identified as frail for resource efficiency. Multicomponent interventions including prehabilitation may be associated with improved outcomes, but the evidence base for these needs to be strengthened.

CONCLUSION

Establishing multidisciplinary collaborative services to provide person-centred models of care should be considered for older people presenting for elective surgery, particularly in those with greater preoperative frailty. Further large-scale studies should focus on implementing and evaluating such multicomponent models of care.