Tag: aged care

Delirium

Thanks to Dr David Swetman for his presentation on the delirious patient.

 

Delirium Presentation

 

Take home points:

  1. delirium is under-recognized in ED
  2. careful attention to supportive care, prior to sedation, is in the patient’s best interests ie. pain relief, hydration, bowel care, regular medications (especially diabetic medications, Parkinsonian medications) and analgesia
  3. be familiar with the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and other delirium identification tools which are available via the Western Health intranet

Geriatric medicine in the ED

Thanks to Dr Rajni Joseph for her presentation about aged care in the ED. Review her talk here:

 

Geriatric-emergency-medicine-handout-1

 

She has also kindly forwarded this article, from Emergency Medicine Australasia in 2013. The article argues that current ED models of care, for reasons relating to time pressures, departmental design and discontinuity with community and outreach services, are suboptimally equipped to manage the aging population.

 

ArendtsLowthianDemog-is-destiny_EMA-June2013-1