Abstract
Abstract: Excellent emergency care does not happen by chance. The standard emergency approach that excels in the young, fails in older patients. Older adults experience unnecessary morbidity and excess mortality in our emergency departments. This article describes the pursuit of excellent emergency care in the historically challenging older adult population. A pivotal point occurred once emergency physicians recognized older patients as a distinct population in need of unique evaluation and treatment.
In the early 1990s a group of geriatricians, philanthropists, and emergency physicians joined forces to improve older patient care. Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) emerged as a subspecialty as these individuals systematically identified its distinctive knowledge, skills, competencies, literature, champions, research, fellowship programs, service lines, staffing, accredited geriatric emergency departments, and now its own journal. Early GEM advocates recognized that a legion of older patients would overwhelm providers lacking the training and resources to deliver adequate care for the aging population. They created education and grant programs, developed leaders, and overcame barriers of ageism, ignorance, and indifference. Review of this progress can inform new strategies and innovations providing a future of excellence in emergency care of older adults.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hogan, Teresita M. MD; Gerson, Lowell PhD; and Sanders, Aurthur B. MD
(2023)
"The History of Geriatric Emergency Medicine,"
Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine: Vol. 4:
Iss.
2, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17294/2694-4715.1044
Available at:
https://institutionalrepository.aah.org/jgem/vol4/iss2/2
Includes all attachments referenced in this manuscript.
Published
April 18th, 2023
