Dr. Sam on the Importance of Performing Geriatric Assessments During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Christine Sam, MD, discusses the importance of performing geriatric assessments during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Christine Sam, MD, hematologist and oncologist, assistant member, Department of Individualized Cancer Management/Senior Adult Oncology Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the importance of performing geriatric assessments during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ensuring geriatric assessments are done can be challenging in the clinical setting, says Sam. As such, having resources available to conduct this testing quickly and efficiently is of critical importance.
Common techniques include utilizing the CRASH (Chemotherapy Risk Assessment Scale for High-Age Patients) score, which stratifies patients into 4 risk categories for severe toxicity, as well as the CARG (Cancer Aging Research Group) score, both of which can be conducted online.
Additionally, several physical assessments, such as the Timed Up and Go test, have been extremely beneficial in assessing older patients, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam concludes.
