The elderly represent the fastest growing segment of the population in developed countries, reflected in the patient population presenting to EDs and hospitals. These patients more often than not have greater co-morbidities, more complicated workups and utilize more laboratory and radiologic services.
This text is designed to teach emergency physicians how best to care for this specific demographic of patients. It addresses physiologic changes, high-risk conditions, and atypical presentations associated with elderly patients in the ED that result in frequent misdiagnosis or delays in diagnosis. It instructs the readers how best to care for elderly patients in order to minimize morbidity and mortality, addressing some of the difficult psychosocial issues that confront health care providers that care for elderly patients, such as psychiatric disease and end-of-life care. The utility of this text is not limited to emergency physicians, but it should be useful to all health care providers involved in the treatment of elderly patients with acute medical or surgical conditions.
| List of Contributors |
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vii | |
| 1 General assessment of the elderly patient |
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1 | (12) |
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| 2 Physiologic changes with aging |
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13 | (15) |
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| 3 Functional assessment of the elderly |
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28 | (15) |
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| 4 Pharmacological issues in the elderly |
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43 | (15) |
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| 5 Altered mental status in the elderly |
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58 | (13) |
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| 6 Geriatric psychiatric emergencies |
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71 | (12) |
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| 7 Acute abdominal pain in the elderly: Surgical causes |
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83 | (16) |
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| 8 Nonsurgical abdominal pain in the elderly |
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99 | (11) |
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| 9 Back pain |
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110 | (13) |
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| 10 Headache |
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123 | (16) |
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| 11 Dyspnea in the elderly |
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139 | (13) |
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| 12 Acute chest pain in the geriatric patient |
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152 | (16) |
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| 13 Acute cardiac disease in elder patients |
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168 | (23) |
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| 14 Syncope in Geriatrics |
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191 | (12) |
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| 15 Stroke |
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203 | (15) |
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| 16 Infections |
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218 | (16) |
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| 17 Dizziness and vertigo in the geriatric population |
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234 | (18) |
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| 18 Weakness and functional decline |
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252 | (12) |
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| 19 Emergency department evaluation of falls in the elderly |
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264 | (16) |
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| 20 Trauma in the geriatric patient |
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280 | (24) |
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| 21 Surgical considerations in the elderly |
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304 | (17) |
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| 22 Oncologic emergencies |
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321 | (30) |
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| 23 Elder abuse and neglect |
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351 | (12) |
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| 24 Geriatric emergency pain management case |
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363 | (23) |
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| 25 Ethical issues and end-of-life care |
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386 | (8) |
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| 26 Geriatric dispositions and transitions of care |
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394 | (13) |
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| 27 The geriatric ED |
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407 | (10) |
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| Index |
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417 | |
Series Editors: Shamai Grossman, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director, Clinical Decision Unit and Cardiac Emergency Center. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
Peter Rosen, Senior Lecturer Emergency Medicine Harvard Medical School; Attending Emergency Physician Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Visiting Clinical Professor Emergency Medicine University of Arizona; Professor Emergency Medicine University of California San Diego, MA.
Editor-Chief: Amal Mattu, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Dr. Mattu is one of the leading emergency medicine educators in the US and a strong advocate for geriatric emergency medicine training. He has authored or co-authored 5 books for Wiley, including his extremely successful ECGs for Emergency Physicians titles, which have been perennial bestsellers. Dr. Mattu is Consulting Editor for Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America; he is a popular speaker at conferences around the world and he has won multiple awards for his excellence in teaching, including national awards from the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine.
