Author:
Chu Kevin,Brown Anthony,Lukin William
Abstract
Nursing-led aged care services were set up at our
Emergency Department (ED) in 2004?05 to assist
in the appropriate discharge of older patients. This
study examined local trends in ED attendances by
older patients. A retrospective study was conducted
at an inner-city adult ED in a region with a
2.2% annual growth rate. Patient demographics,
Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) category and
admission/discharge status were collected from
January 2002 to December 2006. Total ED attendances
increased 7.7% from 66 687 in 2002 to
71 801 in 2006. Older patients? attendances, however,
decreased 3.1% from 12 356 to 11 971. This
decrease in ED attendances by older patients was
unexpected. This may represent local population
trends and/or be related to ED services designed
to manage older patients and nursing home residents
in the community. The planning of health
services for older people therefore needs to take
into consideration the influences on local trends in
changing population demographics.
Cited by
10 articles.
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