The Framework of Health Aging

To better understand healthy aging, we need to understand the framework under which we work. There are four important domains to incorporate:

1) What Matters? - Align with health goals and outcomes, including end of life care

2) Medication - If medication is necessary, be sure to use meds that are age appropriate and do the least harm across the other three domains

3) Mentation - Prevent, identify, and treat depression, anxiety, delirium, and other emotional concerns

4) Mobility - Ensure people have the equipment and resources available to move around their environments as safely as possible

These “4 M’s” are appropriated from the Institute for Health Improvement Age-Friendly Health Systems. I strongly feel that this framework, although primarily applied to older adults and elder care, is critically important to age in a healthy manner!

To learn more about these please visit https://www.aha.org/center/age-friendly-health-systems