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Care of the older person
Older patients have an increased risk of in-hospital death and adverse events following overnight stays in the emergency department
  1. Rachel Muir1,2,3,
  2. Elizabeth Elder1,2,4
  1. 1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
  2. 2Emergency Department, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Southport, Queensland, Australia
  3. 3Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing Midwifery and Palliative Care, Kings College London, London, UK
  4. 4Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Griffith University Faculty of Health, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Rachel Muir, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; rachel.muir{at}griffith.edu.au

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2023-103910

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    Commentary on: Roussel M, Teissandier D, Yordanov Y, et al. Overnight stay in the emergency department and mortality in older patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Dec 1;183(12):1378-1385.

    Implications for practice and research

    • Healthcare leaders should place high importance on organisational solutions to prioritise the admission of older patients from emergency departments (EDs) to wards to reduce risks associated with overnight stays.

    • Further evidence is needed to understand if increased risks to older patients in ED also occur at other times and to establish the most effective interventions to mitigate risks.

    Context

    Crowding and access block in emergency departments (EDs) are pervasive problems of international concern.1 The demand on EDs has grown exponentially, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where EDs served as the ‘safety net’ for rising numbers of high-acuity patients and emergencies. The study by Roussel et al 2 advances …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.