Improving care for the elderly in a medical emergency

Australians over 65 years of age account for one in five presentations to an emergency department.

To improve the care of the elderly in a medical emergency, EMF has invested close to $700,000 in aged-care research projects.

One of these projects is changing the way the elderly are cared for in a medical emergency.

In 2010, EMF awarded a $280,539 grant to Princess Alexandra Hospital Emergency Staff Specialist, Dr Ellen Burkett, to develop a framework and quality care indicators for treating elderly patients who present at an emergency department.

When these indicators were piloted, they were shown to have the additional benefit of a 31.17% reduction in emergency department presentations of frail patients from residential aged care facilities.

The research formed the basis of the revised Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) policy for care of older persons in emergency departments.

In addition, Dr Burkett’s research also led to a $3.7 million grant from Queensland Health in 2014 to develop the Comprehensive Aged Residents Emergency and Partners in Assessment, Care and Treatment (CARE-PACT) program.

This program is helping to define best practice in the acute care of the elderly in residential facilities.

Read more about the research

 about research evaluating the Hospital in the Nursing Home program

About the GEDI program


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