Gerontology is essential to the identity of geriatric medicine

Abstract

The concept of the preeminence of multidimensional func-tional status in health care, one of the first achievements of geriatric medicine, has been endorsed by diverse sources, and is now a cultural patrimony of medicine. One of the main goals of geriatric medicine is to allow older people to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible. The integrated research of geriatricians and gerontologists has been at the forefront of the development, testing, and application of tools to assess functional status, including activities of daily living, gait and mobility, cognition, psy-chological status, depression, and social support.