Evaluating elderly patients: a critique of comprehensive functional assessment tools.

The need for long-term planning and efficient usage of resources in the health care field necessitates approaching the elderly patient from a biopsychosocial point of view, facilitating a more complete approach to patient care. This article critiques tools available for the comprehensive functional evaluation of older patients, and identifies their effectiveness in improving specific aspects of patient outcomes. The Comprehensive Older Persons' Evaluation tool is described and compared with two other tools that evaluate a patient's functional and instrumental activities of daily living, as well as the medical, social and psychological aspects of the patient.