[Geriatric emergencies versus adult emergencies: retrospective analysis of medical emergencies at a general hospital].
The aim of the study was to evaluate the process of the attention to emergencies in patients older than 65 years and to compare it with the same process in adult patients. To this end, 965 clinical records of medical emergencies from the Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja in Madrid were retrospectively evaluated, and data were obtained regarding age, the cause for consultation, the investigations performed and their yield, the administration of drug therapy, the major diagnosis at the time of discharge from the service and the clinical course. It was found that all evaluated diagnostic investigations were carried out with equal or higher frequency in patients older than 65 years and that their mean clinical effectiveness was also higher. In addition, it was found that the patients older than 65 years were more commonly admitted to the hospital through the emergency service than the rest of the population. It was concluded, therefore, that the process of attention to emergencies has differential characteristics in the elderly population, and that if the number and proportion of old people increase as it will presumably happen during the two next decades, the cost of attention to emergencies and the number of emergency hospital admissions will also increase.
Rodríguez Artalejo
F
F
González Montalvo
J I
JI
Sanz Segovia
F
F
Jaramillo Gómez
E
E
Banegas Banegas
J R
JR
Rodríguez Mañas
L
L
Carbonell Collar
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain
La urgencia geriátrica frente a la urgencia en la edad adulta: análisis retrospectivo de las urgencias médicas de un hospital general.