Cultivating a Career in Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Introduction

Our population is aging, and our loved ones are growing older. Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) addresses the unique needs of the geriatric patients in the emergency department (ED) patient population. Older adults have different medical and psychosocial needs in the ED than their younger peers as their aging physiology often changes presentations of common diseases. They often have comorbidities, polypharmacy, cognitive impairment, and complex social contexts that make them medically intricate. Thus, their management in the ED often requires a multidisciplinary approach and specialized support, such as geriatric trained professionals, extended diagnostic capabilities, and care coordination. Given aging demographics and limited ED resources, there is a great need to nurture careers in GEM^.1 Careers in GEM have exploded in the past two decades with an increase in funded research, GEM divisions, and GEM mentorship. GEM pioneers created GED Guidelines² which led to the creation and implementation of the of Geriatric ED Accreditation (GEDA.)³ In 2024, there are 500 accredited geriatric EDs. This expansion in geriatric ED accreditation will create a need for highly trained geriatric EM specialists to develop processes, education, and research at each accredited site. This signifies huge career opportunities in GEM as sites need GEM champions.

REFERENCES

1. Website. Thatphet P, Rose T, Kayarian F et al. Impact of Geriatric Emergency Fellowship Training of the careers of Emergency Physicians. Cureus 2021 13(9); doi:10.7759/cuerus.17903.eCollection 2021 Sept 2023. https://institutionalrepository.aah.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgiarticle=1044&context=jgem
2. American College of Emergency Physicians, American Geriatrics Society, Emergency Nurses Association, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines.; https://books.google.com/books/about/Geriatric_Emergency_Department_Guideline.html?hl=&id=Ex77oAEACAAJ
3. Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program (GEDA). https://www.acep.org/geda. Accessed August 4, 2024