CANANDAIGUA – The Emergency Department at UR Medicine Thompson Hospital recently earned Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in recognition of excellence in care for older patients.
“This achievement – made possible by an interdisciplinary team within Thompson – signals our hospital’s focus on the highest standards of care for our community’s older adults,” said Dr. Matthew Osborne, medical director of Emergency Medicine. “At a time when the aging of Baby Boomers is impacting hospitals across the country, we want our community to know we are well-equipped to handle the multiple chronic conditions as well as the other complex social and physical challenges often faced by older adults.”
According to ACEP, the organization partnered in 2014 with the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Emergency Nurses Association, and American Geriatrics Society to develop and release geriatric ED guidelines. They recommended measures ranging from adding geriatric-friendly equipment, to specialized staff, to more routine screening for delirium, dementia, and fall risk, among other vulnerabilities.
The voluntary GEDA program provides specific criteria and goals for emergency clinicians and administrators to target. The accreditation process provides more than two dozen best practices for geriatric care. A Level 3 accreditation – which Thompson now holds – requires many of these best practices, along with providing interdisciplinary geriatric education and having geriatric-appropriate equipment and supplies available.