Acute Illness, Resilient Responses: Advancing Physical Resilience in Geriatric Acute Care

Moderator: Thomas Laskow, MD 
 

This symposium will explore innovative approaches to understanding and predicting physical resilience in older adults within acute care settings. Anchored by a newly proposed conceptual framework of physical resilience in geriatric medicine, the session will integrate perspectives from clinical research, data science, and emerging technologies to highlight how resilience can be measured, monitored, and supported during episodes of acute illness. Learning Objectives: (1) review the current state of physical resilience research in acute care, including conceptual frameworks and clinical relevance for recovery in older adults; (2) describe how assessments of structural clinical features, such as grip strength, and dynamic processes, such as standardized stress response tests, can be combined to profile, monitor and evaluate resilience in hospitalized older adults; (3) explain how EHR data and AI-based tools can support the prediction of recovery trajectories and help guide clinical decision-making in acute care settings; and (4) discuss how resilience-informed approaches can help identify and address disparities in functional recovery and support more equitable care for older adults.

Introduction to a Generic Resilience Framework for Geriatric Medicine
René Melis, MD, PhD
 

Functional Forecasting in Acute Care: Predicting Resilience from EHR Data
Juliessa M. Pavon, MD, MHS
 

Combining Structure and Dynamic Indicators for Resilience Profiling to Predict Outcomes in Older Patients Admitted to the Acute Medical Unit
Kirsten Bos, MSc