Frailty is present in 30% to 50% of older patients presenting for major surgery and roughly doubles the risk of morbidity, mortality, and new patient-reported disability. Impaired mobility, recent falls, malnutrition, and cognitive impairment each independently predict complications, prolonged length of stay, institutionalization, and death, and cognitive impairment alone carries a prevalence of up to about 33% among elective surgical elders. Because elective means there is time, that time is the clinical opportunity: comprehensive geriatric assessment is how a primary care physician measures physiologic reserve rather than issuing a rubber stamp for clearance.
AAVBC's Guide for Geriatric Pre-operative Assessment Performance and Use Quick Reference Guide equips primary care clinicians and care teams with a comprehensive, evidence-aligned reference covering the comprehensive geriatric assessment domains, frailty and mobility instruments including the Timed Up and Go protocol, cognitive and mood screening with Mini-Cog, MoCA, and CAM, conservative care and multimodal prehabilitation, deprescribing and reversible contributors to decline, the patient risk-benefit discussion for elective procedures, the elective procedure decision pathway with worked examples, and a pre-operative consultation template. Grounded in current geriatric surgery and perioperative evidence, this guide supports consistent, individualized clinical decision-making, helping care teams protect function and independence when the burden of recovery may exceed the benefit, with the clarity and continuity that durable outcomes require.
AAVBC’s Deep-Dive series offers a comprehensive, structured analysis of geriatric pre-operative assessment performance and use — moving far beyond quick-reference essentials. These guides provide an integrated review of financial implications, decision frameworks, target conditions, risk stratifications, document requirements as well as billing and coding considerations. The Deep-Dives combine evidence-informed clinical guidance with practical operational tools to support a deeper understanding of geriatric pre-operative assessment performance and use, and provide care teams with the necessary strategies to thrive within a value-based framework.
Frailty is present in 30% to 50% of older patients presenting for major surgery and roughly doubles the risk of morbidity, mortality, and new patient-reported disability. Impaired mobility, recent falls, malnutrition, and cognitive impairment each independently predict complications, prolonged length of stay, institutionalization, and death, and cognitive impairment alone carries a prevalence of up to about 33% among elective surgical elders. Because elective means there is time, that time is the clinical opportunity: comprehensive geriatric assessment is how a primary care physician measures physiologic reserve rather than issuing a rubber stamp for clearance.
AAVBC's Guide for Geriatric Pre-operative Assessment Performance and Use Quick Reference Guide equips primary care clinicians and care teams with a comprehensive, evidence-aligned reference covering the comprehensive geriatric assessment domains, frailty and mobility instruments including the Timed Up and Go protocol, cognitive and mood screening with Mini-Cog, MoCA, and CAM, conservative care and multimodal prehabilitation, deprescribing and reversible contributors to decline, the patient risk-benefit discussion for elective procedures, the elective procedure decision pathway with worked examples, and a pre-operative consultation template. Grounded in current geriatric surgery and perioperative evidence, this guide supports consistent, individualized clinical decision-making, helping care teams protect function and independence when the burden of recovery may exceed the benefit, with the clarity and continuity that durable outcomes require.
AAVBC’s Deep-Dive series offers a comprehensive, structured analysis of geriatric pre-operative assessment performance and use — moving far beyond quick-reference essentials. These guides provide an integrated review of financial implications, decision frameworks, target conditions, risk stratifications, document requirements as well as billing and coding considerations. The Deep-Dives combine evidence-informed clinical guidance with practical operational tools to support a deeper understanding of geriatric pre-operative assessment performance and use, and provide care teams with the necessary strategies to thrive within a value-based framework.
