Geriatric emergency medicine – a niche group but one that is growing.
That’s the view of FACEM Associate Professor Glenn Arendts, who will be presenting at GEM SEM 2019 in April.
“We will never be on the front pages of newspapers or poster people for our specialty, but I think meetings like GEM SEM show me that FACEMs will be there for our oldest patients as much as any other age group. It’s uplifting to be a part of it,” Associate Professor Arendts says.
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GEM SEM 2019 will be held on Thursday, April 4 in Sydney.
GEM SEM is the best conference around for those interested in geriatrics and emergency medicine. It was started three years ago by a group made up of some emergency physicians from the ACEM Geriatrics special interest group, PHEMC.org and other clinicians who collaborated to fill the need for continuing professional development in this field. It has gone from strength to strength.
Check out the program and further details on the event website.
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Delirium screening in the emergency department
In his talk, Associate Professor Arendts will look at some of the science around which delirium screening tools perform best for patients in ED. Delirium is an acute brain syndrome characterised by inattention, disorientation and other cognitive deficits.
“More importantly I want to give some real life examples of what is and is not possible in the emergency department,” Associate Professor Arendts says. “It’s really important that researchers that create controlled conditions for their clinical trials realise the translational difficulties that are faced by clinicians trying to do this stuff at the coalface. Screening is not an end to itself, to have emergency department clinicians screen they have to be convinced the screening results will shift outcomes for their patients.”
Fastest growing emergency department population
Associate Professor Arendts points out that data consistently shows that the fastest growing emergency department population is older patients, and “our emergency departments and hospitals are struggling to manage this phenomenon”.
“In one generation I can unequivocally say that many things I learnt about caring for older people in my specialist emergency medicine training is wrong – the fundamental idea that was drummed into me as a trainee was when in doubt, err on the side of admitting the vulnerable aged because they are most at risk after discharge,” Associate Professor Arendts says.
“This idea is not only garbage it is actually harming our patients and in some circumstances denying them opportunities to live independent lives for as long as possible. So we need to do so much more as a specialty and completely unpick some of this thinking. I’m confident we can and become more part of the solution less part of the problem.”