The GENEUS project team has recently published a scientific contribution in the journal European Geriatric Medicine in the form of a Letter to the Editor, a brief academic publication format that is indexed and citable, and particularly valued as an exercise in critical analysis and scientific positioning.
The text was written as a direct response to the article “Collaborative care pathways in geriatrics and neurosurgery: a scoping review of current practices” by Jesuyajolu et al., which analyzes the current state of collaborative care pathways between geriatrics and neurosurgery.
GENEUS as a potential response to the identified gaps
In their letter, the GENEUS authors acknowledge the relevance of the published review and highlight its main conclusions, while also pointing out structural limitations in the existing evidence, such as the high heterogeneity of the models described and the lack of standardization of care processes.
In response to these gaps, the letter presents the GENEUS project as an initiative aimed at promoting more structured, comparable, and person‑centred collaborative models, contributing to the generation of transferable evidence across different healthcare systems. In this regard, GENEUS is working on the harmonization of geriatric–neurosurgical care pathways in Portugal, Spain, and France, avoiding the proliferation of isolated protocols and advocating for a transnational and collaborative approach.
GENEUS also proposes a clear shift in focus: moving from a model centred on disease and the surgical episode toward one centred on the older person, with special attention to the prevention of iatrogenic dependency, a frequent phenomenon in older neurosurgical patients and one associated with factors such as prolonged immobilization.
To this end, the project is developing an operational and reproducible “toolbox” that enables the systematic assessment of key geriatric syndromes and the implementation of targeted interventions aimed at preserving functional capacity.
Strategic value for the project
Although this contribution does not constitute original research, it remains an indexed and citable output that reinforces the consortium’s intellectual leadership and positions GENEUS within the European scientific debate on geriatric and neurosurgical care. Against the backdrop of a growing and complex geriatric population, the project addresses the urgent need for structured collaboration between geriatrics and neurosurgery, where mutual integration represents both a clinical necessity and a strategic opportunity. GENEUS aims to harmonize care pathways across the SUDOE territories, deploying a practical toolbox applicable before, during, and after hospitalization, and promoting its adoption by healthcare institutions and authorities. Beyond neurosurgery, the project acts as a laboratory for integrated care in older adults, producing transferable and reproducible geriatric models to adapt healthcare systems to population aging across disciplines in Europe.