Nurses Recommend Sending Older ER Visitors Home With Help

Some U.S. hospitals are adopting a new approach to older persons in U.S. emergency rooms that often entails asking more questions, asking them earlier and, when possible, avoiding hospitalization, reports ABC News . "The doctors are not comfortable sending you home unless you're safe," says Northwestern Medicine's Dwayne Dobschuetz. "It's easier to admit older persons than to send them home." Research at Northwestern and other hospitals demonstrates how care from geriatrics-trained nurses in the ER can lower the chances of a hospital stay after an emergency visit and for a month afterward. About 100 U.S. hospitals have opened geriatric emergency departments or trained ER teams in geriatrics care. These teams can arrange home services such as light housekeeping or breaks for caregivers. This new emergency medicine model is based on a 2007 article describing the emergency department of the future, designed to prevent confusion and falls in seniors and to increase their comfort. Such a department would have windows and skylights instead of windowless spaces with bright bulbs, replace thin mattresses with pressure-reducing ones, and install soundproofing. In addition, it would hire nurses trained to address the complaints of aging, slowing down the frenzied pace of the ER enough to fully assess each visitor. Physical therapists and pharmacists also would be ready to assist.