Mount Sinai experts help prepare Emergency Departments for older patients

Representatives from 28 emergency departments from across Canada and the US recently attended the two-day Emergency Department Administration Conference (EDAC) in November. This conference was hosted by SREMI, and provided clinicians with a variety of evidence-based tools to make their EDs more senior-friendly. 

Dr. Don Melady, a SREMI educator and one of the few emergency medicine physicians in Canada specializing in geriatric medicine, is one of the creators of the course. The course introduced participants to innovative staffing models, including the addition of a nurse case manager focussed on older patients and strategies for assessing complex patients by a multi-disciplinary health-care team, including pharmacists and social workers. It also provided screening tools to identify older patients with cognitive impairments, like dementia and delirium, who are at risk of further decline and falls, as well as ideas for how to improve transitions of care between the emergency department and the community.

To read more about EDAC and the SREMI-led senior-friendly initiatives, click here.