Description

Welcome to the new look CME Journal Geriatric Medicine. MCQs are now, in the main, in best of five format. In this volume and in the next there will still be one or two MCQs in the old style TRUE / FALSE format as the editorial board assist contributing authors through this transition period.

The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) specially commissioned article on End of life care for older people marks the increasing recognition of this important aspect of holistic care for older people. Amongst its many collaborative ventures the BGS has a strong alliance with the National Council for Palliative Care and strongly supports the NCPCs ongoing commitment to highlight the palliative care needs of people with dementia.

Reduction of falls and hospital acquired infections remain high on the Department of Healths agenda and so the articles by Dawn Skelton and Divya Tiwari and colleagues show the journals continued commitment to ensure that its readers not only achieve CME accreditation but that the review articles are also highly relevant to current national agendas. Venous thromboembolic  disease has also come on to the radar screen of the Chief Medical Officer for England and so the article by Thejeswi Pujar highlights an all too often neglected yet highly important aspect of minimising complication rates from hospitalisation which should help speed recovery of our patients and help maintain the quality of medical care.

As the adopted CME Journal of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), we continue our efforts to try and meet your CME needs. As always, I would welcome feedback from readers as to how you would like to see the journal develop. I am delighted to say that negotiations to strengthen the journals links with the BGS are coming towards a close and I hope to give our readership more news on these developments in the next edition of the journal.

Finally, I hope you have all had a pleasant Christmas and New Year and are now ready to face the challenges of 2007.