Premium
Disseminating and Sustaining Emergency Department Innovations for Older Adults: Good Ideas Deserve Better Policies
Author(s) -
Lo Alexander X.,
Biese Kevin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/acem.13339
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , complaint , health care , population , medical emergency , outpatient clinic , nursing , environmental health , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Older adults often visit the emergency department (ED) with chief complaints that understate or detract from their true complex health care needs. These needs are frequently missed because addressing them requires a time-consuming effort that is antithetical to the (necessarily) rapid, complaint-specific protocols of the ED. Key ED performance indices (e.g., length of stay; through-put) also create a disincentive against undertaking comprehensive geriatric assessments when not clearly germane to the chief complaint. However, ignoring these complex care issues can contribute to poor health outcomes. These visits often serve as sentinel events in the patient's health trajectory which irreversibly hastens loss of independence. Such encounters will only increase as the population ages. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.