Encouraging the patient's will to recover is what matters - Yoon, Kangjun, President of St. Peter's Hospital
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Gangnam St. Peter's Hospital 25-12-19 00:00Main content
“What matters is encouraging the patient's will to recover”
Reporter Bae, Ji Young Posted 2025.12.19 14:55 Comments 0
Yoon, Kangjun, President of St. Peter's Hospital
-What medical and psychological factors require special consideration when treating elderly patients?
“Patients aged 80 and over are medically likely to be in a state of frailty. Frailty is different from simple aging; it means a vulnerable state in which the body as a whole has weakened and physiological reserve is very low. Even a small burden can cause a rapid decline in physical function, and the likelihood of disability or a long hospital stay also increases.
In this process, a range of techniques and treatments that place as little burden as possible on the patient's body must also be considered, including rapid surgery (minimizing anesthesia time) and biportal endoscopic techniques that allow minimally invasive treatment.
Most important of all is the patient's will to recover. When older patients regain function through surgical treatment and their gait disturbance improves, they are far more likely to spend the rest of their lives actively and in good health. Explaining this through thorough communication and helping the patient understand it is an essential part of the process.”
- How does multidisciplinary care work?
“The dedicated geriatric care team works by flexibly assembling, like building blocks, the medical staff from whichever departments the patient's condition requires. When an older patient who needs surgery comes in, we first assess whether surgery is possible and then form a new task force tailored to that patient.
At present, more than 10 major departments are assigned to the task force, including Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurointervention, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and Rehabilitation Medicine, and highly specialized professor-level physicians from each department are on standby as task force members at all times.
The reason for building this system is expertise and safety. Collaborative consultation is generally not an easy thing to arrange. Because it requires procedures set out in hospital regulations, quite a few patients end up moving from one department to another and repeating piecemeal treatment. In such cases, however, problems can arise, such as missing medical records, inconsistency in the direction of treatment, and duplicated prescriptions and tests. When a task force system in which specialists from each department exchange opinions directly is in place at all times, such errors can be markedly reduced and overall treatment time shortened, which can have a far better effect on the patient's prognosis.”
-Is there an elderly patient case from your practice that stands out most in your memory?
“One memorable case was a couple in their 80s who underwent spinal surgery one after the other. The wife, 83, originally came in with back pain, and while she was being seen her 86-year-old husband, who had come along as her carer, cautiously asked whether he might have surgery as well. Watching the systematic process of assessing surgical treatment through a range of examinations appeared to have given him confidence in recovery.
However, the wife had a history of surgery for stomach cancer and the husband had heart disease, so thorough collaboration and review by the relevant departments was essential. We formed the task force with great care, and the participating departments communicated continuously and coordinated the treatment plan in fine detail.
Communication with the patients was equally meticulous throughout this process. The husband in particular felt considerable emotional pressure because he was both a patient and his wife's carer, so we took great care to fully empathize with this while easing his anxiety and explaining the treatment stage by stage in plain terms, so that he could look forward to a full recovery.”
-What vision are you pursuing in order to become ‘a hospital trusted by older adults’?
“What matters, I believe, is establishing ourselves as a hospital where the best specialist treatment is available regardless of age. Communicating fully with patients in the clinic is also an important part of realizing that vision. Explaining the treatment process, the expected outcome and the prospects for recovery in full, so as to reduce the patient's anxiety and fear, and offering the realistic expectation and hope that ‘you can recover,’ is also part of a physician's competence.”
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Reporter Bae, Ji Young Posted 2025.12.19 14:55 Comments 0
Yoon, Kangjun, President of St. Peter's Hospital
-What medical and psychological factors require special consideration when treating elderly patients?
“Patients aged 80 and over are medically likely to be in a state of frailty. Frailty is different from simple aging; it means a vulnerable state in which the body as a whole has weakened and physiological reserve is very low. Even a small burden can cause a rapid decline in physical function, and the likelihood of disability or a long hospital stay also increases.
In this process, a range of techniques and treatments that place as little burden as possible on the patient's body must also be considered, including rapid surgery (minimizing anesthesia time) and biportal endoscopic techniques that allow minimally invasive treatment.
Most important of all is the patient's will to recover. When older patients regain function through surgical treatment and their gait disturbance improves, they are far more likely to spend the rest of their lives actively and in good health. Explaining this through thorough communication and helping the patient understand it is an essential part of the process.”
- How does multidisciplinary care work?
“The dedicated geriatric care team works by flexibly assembling, like building blocks, the medical staff from whichever departments the patient's condition requires. When an older patient who needs surgery comes in, we first assess whether surgery is possible and then form a new task force tailored to that patient.
At present, more than 10 major departments are assigned to the task force, including Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurointervention, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and Rehabilitation Medicine, and highly specialized professor-level physicians from each department are on standby as task force members at all times.
The reason for building this system is expertise and safety. Collaborative consultation is generally not an easy thing to arrange. Because it requires procedures set out in hospital regulations, quite a few patients end up moving from one department to another and repeating piecemeal treatment. In such cases, however, problems can arise, such as missing medical records, inconsistency in the direction of treatment, and duplicated prescriptions and tests. When a task force system in which specialists from each department exchange opinions directly is in place at all times, such errors can be markedly reduced and overall treatment time shortened, which can have a far better effect on the patient's prognosis.”
-Is there an elderly patient case from your practice that stands out most in your memory?
“One memorable case was a couple in their 80s who underwent spinal surgery one after the other. The wife, 83, originally came in with back pain, and while she was being seen her 86-year-old husband, who had come along as her carer, cautiously asked whether he might have surgery as well. Watching the systematic process of assessing surgical treatment through a range of examinations appeared to have given him confidence in recovery.
However, the wife had a history of surgery for stomach cancer and the husband had heart disease, so thorough collaboration and review by the relevant departments was essential. We formed the task force with great care, and the participating departments communicated continuously and coordinated the treatment plan in fine detail.
Communication with the patients was equally meticulous throughout this process. The husband in particular felt considerable emotional pressure because he was both a patient and his wife's carer, so we took great care to fully empathize with this while easing his anxiety and explaining the treatment stage by stage in plain terms, so that he could look forward to a full recovery.”
-What vision are you pursuing in order to become ‘a hospital trusted by older adults’?
“What matters, I believe, is establishing ourselves as a hospital where the best specialist treatment is available regardless of age. Communicating fully with patients in the clinic is also an important part of realizing that vision. Explaining the treatment process, the expected outcome and the prospects for recovery in full, so as to reduce the patient's anxiety and fear, and offering the realistic expectation and hope that ‘you can recover,’ is also part of a physician's competence.”
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