Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 8 (Reporter Li Heng) The reporter learned from the National Health Commission on the 8th that the "Guidelines for the Construction and Management of Geriatric Medicine (2025 Edition)" recently issued clearly requires that second-level and above comprehensive hospitals with conditions should open geriatric medicine departments, and refine the standards of department settings, staffing, service models, etc.

  The new version of the guideline was revised based on the 2019 trial version, emphasizing that the geriatric medicine department should focus on elderly patients and strengthen early screening and early diagnosis and treatment of key diseases in the elderly population. While doing a good job in diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, standardize the comprehensive assessment of the elderly, strengthen the management and co-disease treatment of geriatric syndrome, strengthen safe medication guidance, pay attention to the mental health of the elderly, maximize the maintenance or improvement of the functional status of the elderly, and improve their independent living ability and quality of life.

  According to the new version of the guidelines, the geriatric medicine department should set up outpatient clinics, wards, and comprehensive evaluation rooms. The number of inpatient beds in the geriatric medicine department of a tertiary comprehensive hospital is no less than 20, and the number of inpatient beds in the second-level comprehensive hospital is no less than 10. Geriatric medical outpatient clinics, wards and related public places shall implement relevant national laws and regulations on the construction of barrier-free environments, carry out aging-friendly transformation, and meet the safety requirements of the activity venues and seating and lying facilities of elderly patients. At the same time, basic rescue equipment should be installed, including tracheal intubation equipment, simple respirators, electrocardiogram monitors, cardiac defibrillators, etc. Hospitals are encouraged to set up auxiliary bathing equipment, electric nursing beds, autonomous transport devices, enteral nutritional fluid infusion pumps, rehabilitation training equipment, etc.

  The new version of the guideline requires that the geriatric medicine department should gradually establish a multi-disciplinary team working model, and according to clinical work needs, actively absorb medical staff from various specialties such as internal medicine, oncology, traditional Chinese medicine, rehabilitation, mental psychology, nursing, pharmacy, nutrition, etc., carry out multi-disciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment and common disease diagnosis and treatment special services, actively apply suitable Chinese medicine technologies and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment plans, and promote the transformation of elderly medical services from a single disease diagnosis and treatment model to a multi-disciplinary co-treatment model.

  In terms of staffing, each bed in the geriatric medicine department should be equipped with no less than 0.3 physicians and no less than 0.6 nurses. The allocation of geriatric medical doctors should ensure the implementation of the three-level round warding system. Hospitals are encouraged to equip rehabilitation therapists, nutritionists, psychotherapists, clinical pharmacists and other personnel.

[Editor in charge: Qiu Lifang]