Geriatrics

Geriatrics

Geriatrics is a subspecialty of medicine that focuses on health care of the elderly. It aims to promote health and to prevent and treat diseases and disabilities in older adults.
Geriatrics was separated from internal medicine as a distinct entity in the same way that neonatology is separated from pediatrics.[1]

Elderly female in residential care home
There is no set age at which patients may be under the care of a geriatrician. Rather, this is determined by a profile of the typical problems that geriatrics focuses on.
The term geriatrics differs from gerontology which is the study of the aging process itself. The term comes from the Greek geron meaning "old man" and iatros meaning "healer". However "Geriatrics" is considered by some as "Medical Gerontology".