Screening for elder mistreatment in emergency departments: current progress and recommendations for next steps.

TitleScreening for elder mistreatment in emergency departments: current progress and recommendations for next steps.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2020
AuthorsRosen T, Platts-Mills TF, Fulmer T
JournalJ Elder Abuse Negl
Volume32
Issue3
Pagination295-315
Date Published2020 06
ISSN1540-4129
Abstract

Emergency Department (ED) visits provide an important but seldom realized opportunity to identify elder mistreatment. Many screening tools exist, including several that are brief and may be effective, but few have been specifically designed for or tested in EDs. In addition to the absence of validated tools, other challenges with implementing ED elder mistreatment screening include difficulty integrating anything longer than a few questions into a busy clinical encounter and resources required to respond to positive screens. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) offers a critical tool to facilitate elder mistreatment screening through required data entry and real-time monitoring of compliance and results. We describe current work in the field and recommend next steps including design and testing of a two-step screening process, implementation research to accelerate adoption, development of ED-based interventions and referral protocols for positive cases, and consideration of the important role of pre-hospital providers in case identification.

DOI10.1080/08946566.2020.1768997
Alternate JournalJ Elder Abuse Negl
PubMed ID32508284
PubMed Central IDPMC7520626
Grant ListK76 AG054866 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States

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