The Winding Road to Geriatric EM
With Teresita Hogan
Over the past four decades, we have seen a huge increase in the number of older patients accompanied by a growing recognition of the importance of geriatric emergency medicine as a field. In this episode of GEMCast, Dr. Shenvi talks with one of the pioneers of geriatric EM, Dr. Teresita Hogan, a Professor of Medicine and the Director of Geriatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago. Together they walk through the history of geriatric EM and discuss some of the major milestones, challenges, and breakthroughs that have occurred since the 1980s.
Key Points
- As a specialty, we need to prepare in recognition that this large demographic surge of older adults is coming, and they require specific emergency medicine training and systems of care.
-
- Recognize that older adults are different; they present differently, so we need to have a different way to evaluate and treat them, and we need different care processes.
- What are the drivers that will help us create better care options for older patients?
- Need research to demonstrate a return on investment.
- How are we creating the educational pipeline and the healthcare systems that will allow us to meet the medical and social needs of older adults?
- Consider continuing medical education and educate experienced emergency physicians as well as residents.
“It’s always been about the care of the older patient, so our hopes for the future are the same as when they started 40 years ago, to give quality care in a systematic fashion to every older adult who presents to the emergency department.”
– Dr. Teresita Hogan