The clinical and therapeutic challenge of treating older patients in clinical practice

Due to the demographic shift complex care management of older multimorbid patients with changing functional capacities has become core clinical business for many stakeholders in western health care systems. It is the aim of the mini‐review to summarise evidence to be translated into clinical practice for pharmacists and medical doctors and interested readers. The review is based upon a comprehensive literature review in PubMed and EMBASE from 2000 to 2018 and grey literature. Interprofessional exchange and discussion among stakeholders from geriatric medicine and the International Association for Pharmaceutical Technology during a meeting in Graz, Austria 2018, led to the narrowing of the review addressing complex care needs of geriatric patients. In this mini‐review, attention is drawn to a comprehensive therapeutic goal setting according to evidence‐based guidelines: clinical, disease‐related care aspects, functional capacities, evaluated by comprehensive geriatric assessment, and patient's wishes and perspectives as main drivers for personalised complex care of geriatric patients.