Emergency Rooms Get a Makeover for Older Adults

Emergency rooms (ERs) expressly designed for seniors are being set up across the United States, reports the Wall Street Journal . The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that ER visits by people older than 65 increased by more than 27 percent from 2005 to 2015. "There's a growing awareness that the traditional design of emergency-department care isn't well suited to frail, older adults," notes Kevin J. Biese, director of the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Board of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He says seniors in ERs tend to present with complications from conditions like diabetes and heart failure, and injuries from falls. Geriatric ERs also consider the context of the emergency, with a key goal being to prevent older adults from being hospitalized, where they face a greater risk for hospital-acquired complications. To avoid this, geriatric ER staff might direct a social worker to evaluate a senior's home for problems like rugs that can cause falls. Physicians might prescribe a visiting-nurse service so the subject can receive intravenous antibiotics at home, or go to a rehabilitation center. Biese says more than 50 geriatric emergency departments have so far earned the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation, and more than 100 are in the process of getting accredited nationally.