HomePlanning for ChangeThe Geri-ED GuidelinesPolicies, Procedures and Protocols

Share This Post

Policies, Procedures and Protocols / The Geri-ED Guidelines

Policies, Procedures and Protocols

Audrey Brousseau summarizes the Policies, Procedures and Protocols section of the Geriatric Emergency Department guidelines.

Policies, Procedures and Protocols

To read more about or view the complete Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines please visit: https://www.acep.org/geriedguidelines/

In order to facilitate elderly care in the Emergency department, the guidelines strongly encourage the implementation of some policies, procedures and protocols. The following list is mostly suggestions and is non-exhaustive:

  • Triage and initial evaluation: involve the family/friends as much as possible (gathering of valid informations)
  • Early screening for high-risk elderly (Use a tool, for example the ISAR)
  • Protocol for suspicion of elder abuse
  • Sedation/Analgesia
  • Delirium protocol (assessment with the CAM)
  • Restraint policy (with detailed non pharmacological method of agitation management)
  • DNR (information about level of care previously discussed available)
  • Palliative care protocol
  • Urinary catheter placement guidelines
  • Falls education and reference guide
  • Wound assessment and care
  • Transition of care protocol (for example, a check list)
  • Medication reconciliation guidelines (for example education about the BEERS criteria)

For more information or samples, click on each items.

A note on developing protocols

Here are a few tips before engaging into the protocol “Asterix mansion”:

  1. Develop them in team (nurses, physician, pharmacist, OT, PT, GEM nurse)
  2. Evaluate, modify, re-evaluate
  3. Make it accessible (intranet, paper copies well identified)
  4. Educate health professionals users
  5. Monitor their uses

The key word here: creativity!

That is what I like about geriatric emergency medicine. The issues are so obvious and big, any project or idea could turn out to be a GREAT solution.

References and Resources

Share This Post

I graduated as an Emergency Physician from Université Laval in 2016 and I completed a Fellowship in Geriatric Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto in 2017. My specific interests are in teaching, research and management of the ED with one objective: Providing the best care for older adults in the Emergency Department.

Leave a Reply