This book discusses all important aspects of emergency medicine in older people, identifying the particular care needs of this population, which all too often remain unmet. The up-to-date and in-depth coverage will assist emergency physicians in identifying patients at risk for adverse outcomes, in conducting appropriate assessment,and in providing timely and adequate care. Particular attention is paid to the commonpitfalls in emergency management andmeans of avoiding them.

Between 1980 and 2013, the number of older patients in emergency departmentsworldwide doubled. Compared with younger patients, older people suffer from more comorbidities, a higher mortality rate, require more complex assessment and diagnostic testing, and tend to stay longer in the emergency department. This book, written by internationally recognized experts in emergency medicine and geriatrics, not only presents the state of the art in the care of this population but also underlines the increasing need for adequate training and development in the field.

Christian Nickel is an emergency physician at the Emergency Department of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. He has a special interest in geriatric emergency care. Recently, he has been elected chair of the Geriatric Emergency Medicine Section of the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM). His main research focus is disease presentation and risk stratification of older Emergency Department patients. 

Abdelouahab Bellou is Professor of Therapeutics and Emergency Medicine, University of Rennes, France, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Quality and Safety, Administration and Leadership, International Emergency Medicine Fellowship (QuALIEF) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Teaching Hospital of Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. He was also the co-founder and the former chair of the Section of Geriatric Emergency Medicine of the European Society for Emergency Medicine. Dr. Bellou has beencommitted to the advancement of emergency medicine for over 20 years. Having served as a former president of the European Society for Emergency Medicine, he has been a leader in the development of international emergency medicine.Dr. Bellous consulting specialty areas include emergency medicine education, geriatric emergency medicine, ED operations improvement, ED design and layout, and disaster planning. He is an expert on implementing quality assurance and safety programs in the ED. He is also a basic science researcher working on the role of potassium voltage-dependant channels in vasodilatory shock.

Simon Conroy, Geriatrician, University Hospitals of Leicester& Honorary Professor, University of Leicester. His research addresses different models of care for frail older people, assessing feasibility as well as clinical and cost-effectiveness. Professor Conroys educational activities take an interdisciplinary perspective on developing and teaching knowledge locally (frailty services), regionally, nationally and internationally. His Specific areas of interest include: frailty, acute care of frail older people, falls in older people, community geriatrics& intermediate care, end of life care& advance care planning, comprehensive geriatric assessment, complex interventions for older people, prescribing in older people

 

1. Profiles of older patients in the emergency department.- 2. Triage of elderly patients.- 3. High-risk presentations in the elderly.- 4. Trauma in the elderly.- 5. Dementia and delirium.- 6. Comprehensive geriatric assessment.- 7. Detection of older people with increased risk of adverse health outcomes after an emergency visit.- 8. Interventions to improve outcomes for elderly patients discharged from the emergency department.- 9. Pathophysiology of severe sepsis in the elderly: clinical impact and therapeutic considerations.- 10. Drug-related problems in the elderly.