title: Deciding to use the emergency room: a qualitative survey of older veterans.
abstract: Increasing use in the past decade has created pressure for hospital emergency rooms (ERs). Healthcare provided through an ER is expensive and is not designed to meet the complex needs of an older, chronically-ill population. ER visits are presented as the outcome of a decision-making process. Thirty veterans who had visited the ER in the previous year were asked about their decisions to use the ER. Their responses reflected four distinct approaches to ER use, which are characterized by frequency (frequent/infrequent) and risk for social isolation (low/high). Appropriate interventions by social work personnel might reduce inappropriate use of the ER and enhance the care of this vulnerable population.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA. mclaver@csulb.edu
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Claver
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010358:Patient Participation; D011340:Problem Solving; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D057566:Self Report; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D058014:Veterans Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*