Posts Tagged ‘geriatric emergency medicine’

What follows is an article I recently wrote for a senior oriented publication. I hope it helps you make appropriate arrangements for potential ER visits by the elderly in your life.–Connie

Hospital emergency rooms are a vital part of the health care system in America. At the same time the emergency room experience can be frightening and confusing, especially to older adults. The older population will make up 30 percent to 40 percent of emergency room visits by 2030, according to estimates from the American College of Emergency Physicians. Only infants go to the emergency department at a higher rate than people 75 and older, according to a recent federal government survey.

When Jan Coe’s mother sought medical care in an ER for post-surgery complications Coe’s eyes were opened to the difficulties older adults face in the ER. Coe arrived at the hospital to find her parents “parked” in the ER hallway. “They were both overwhelmed and not able to process everything that was going on around them,” said Coe.

More often than not hospitalization for an older adult occurs through the emergency room. Emergency rooms operate at a necessarily high pace that can be overwhelming, even disorienting to the elderly. Often questions are couched in medical jargon that is unfamiliar and confusing. It was certainly true for Ms. Coe’s parents. “Neither of them was able to sift through information as quickly as it was presented to them at the ER. Neither had ever been to an ER before.”

ER staff can wrongly conclude that an older adult is demented or not well educated. Other issues such as poor hearing or impaired vision could result in the older adult giving wrong answers, or leaving out information critical to getting appropriate care. A few institutions are now recognizing the special needs of older patients by staffing their ERs with geriatricians and geriatric nurse practitioners. Others have created fellowship training in the new subspecialty of geriatric emergency medicine. Unfortunately these initiatives are the exception rather than the rule.

“ER’s do a great job under difficult conditions,” says Connie Taylor, an Elder Care Coordinator and owner of Senior Care Consultants. “It is especially critical for an older person to have family support or an advocate, anytime they experience a medical emergency.” When family is at a distance or unavailable, Taylor has been that advocate. She responds to the needs of her elderly clients anytime of the day or night to ensure they do not have to go through an ER visit alone. “I know my clients’ medical history. I have records at my fingertips 24/7.”

With the number of older Americans on the rise and the pressing concerns about health care cost containment, having a care coordinator or patient advocate in the ER is a win-win situation for all involved. “When I am with my client in the ER, they know there is another pair of eyes and ears to help them filter through information and questions. Out of town or vacationing families don’t have to panic if mom or dad has to go to the ER, and best of all, the ER staff has a professional partner on hand to ensure they have everything they need to make the right treatment decisions,” says Taylor.

Coe is no stranger to helping older adults either. She owns Homewatch Caregivers, a non-medical support service agency. After Coe’s ER experience with her mother and father she concluded, “It is a reality that older people process information much more slowly than younger folks. How do you reconcile ER staff demands and elderly responses? I don’t know, but I do know that it helps to have an advocate with them. I don’t even want to think how all this would have gone had I, or someone else prepared to deal with the medical team, not been with them.”