Older adults make up a growing share of 9-1-1 EMS calls — and this population differs substantially from younger adults due to physiologic changes, cognitive impairment and behavioral disturbance, atypical presentation of disease, frailty, functional limitations, the impact of comorbid conditions, and the effects of polypharmacy. Not considering these when providing prehospital care is common and may lead to substantial harm for older adult patients. I was excited to contribute to an editorial recently published in Prehospital Emergency Care led by William Haussner and including co-authors Emily Benton, Rana Barghout, Joshua Lachs, David Hancock, and Bill Toon. We argue that EMS professionals should consider system changes in education, protocol development, and quality improvement to improve care. Our article is available here.
LinkedIn post here.