The elderly adult in the emergency department.
Over 65-year olds were nominated by emergency staff at a Melbourne regional hospital as a patient group of particular concern. With nurse academics from Monash University, a collaborative study was undertaken of elderly patients and the circumstances of their attendance. The focus of the study was on those elderly patients who were triaged as non-acute and who may have been disadvantaged by the priority given to acute cases. The triage records obtained over a 5 month period were analyzed, and a survey administered to selected patients. Over 65-year olds were found to constitute 19% of incoming patients. They figured more prominently in urgent triage categories than those under 65 years of age, were more likely to be referred by a health professional, and more likely to be admitted or transferred. There was no evidence to suggest slower progress through the emergency department for the non-acute elderly than for their counterparts under 65 years of age.
Oates
J
J
Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing, Monash University Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Jenny.Oates@Nursing.monash.edu.au
Heslop
L
L
Boord
N
N
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006300:Health Services Misuse; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014218:Triage; D014739:Victoria