Geriatric medicine is the branch of health care that helps the elderly. Geriatric medicine promotes health and prevention of disease or disability. Geriatric medicine used to be part of internal medicine, but innovation has since separated the two. There is still the innovation linkage between both medicines, but now there is a specific branch that deals with the elderly.
The reasons for the split were to ensure that the elderly individuals were and are getting the treatment they need. Geriatric medicine differs from adult medicine. Usually an elderly person has a different physiological component to that of an adult. In old age humans begin to see decline of their organs and other bodily functions. They need more care, which is where the geriatric medicine will come in.