Older residents who are discharged into the community following emergency room visits often experience significant barriers to care during their transition, and understanding those concerns has the potential to improve the quality of care, a new study has found.
More than one half of older adults are discharged to the community after emergency department visits and many previous studies have shown an increased risk of adverse outcomes during the immediate post-discharge period.
“Understanding the experiences of older adults during ED-to-community care transitions has the potential to improve geriatric emergency clinical care and inform intervention development,” the authors wrote.
Researchers led by Cameron J. Gettel of the Yale School of Medicine conducted a qualitative analysis of community-dwelling patients ages 65 and older who had received care in four diverse EDs from a single U.S. health system. The researchers collected data and recorded semi-structured interviews of 25 participants to determine their transition experiences.
Patients identified several barriers that they experienced during the ED-to-community care transition process. Some of the barriers patients identified include an abrupt ED discharge process with incomplete information about symptom explanation and performance testing, challenges in navigating follow-up outpatient clinical care, new physical limitations, and caregiver issues.
“Older adults identified barriers to successful ED-to-community care transitions that can inform the development of novel and effective interventions,” researchers noted.
The study appeared in the July 2 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. It has been accepted for presentation at the 2022 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual meeting and the 2022 OAIC Annual Meeting.
