ArticleEmergency medicine journal : EMJ2023
Evaluating a new emergency department avoidance service for older people: patient and relative experiences.
Article in Emergency medicine journal : EMJ, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating older people's preferences for an urgent care service: a discrete choice experiment.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Staff and Referrer Experiences and Challenges With a New Emergency Department Avoidance Service for Older People: A Qualitative Study.Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA · 2025Article
- What Is Important to Older People When Accessing Urgent Health Care: Key Considerations and Recommendations From Consumer Consultations.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Urgent care centres for reducing the demand on emergency departments: a scoping review of published quantitative and qualitative studies.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Article
- Older adults experience of transition to the community from the emergency department: a qualitative evidence synthesis.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHigh emergency department (ED) usage by older individuals for non-emergencies is a global concern. ED avoidance initiatives have proven effective in addressing this issue. To specifically cater to individuals aged 65 and above, the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network introduced an innovative ED avoidance service. This study assessed the acceptability of the service among its users.
methodThe Complex And RestorativE (CARE) Centre is a six-bed unit staffed by a multidisciplinary geriatric team. Patients are transported directly to CARE after calling for an ambulance and being triaged by a paramedic. The evaluation took place between September 2021 and September 2022. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients and relatives who had accessed the service. Data analysis was performed using a six-step thematic analysis.
resultsSeventeen patients and 15 relatives were interviewed, who described the experience of 32 attendances to the urgent CARE centre between them. Patients accessed the service for several reasons but over half were associated with falls. There was a hesitation to call emergency services for several reasons, the primary being long wait times in ED and/or the prospect of an overnight stay in hospital. Some individuals attempted to contact their General Practitioner (GP) for the presenting problem but were unable to get a timely appointment. Most participants had previously attended a local ED and had a negative experience. All individuals reported favouring the CARE centre over the traditional ED for numerous reasons including a quieter and safer environment and specially trained geriatric staff who were less rushed than ED staff. Several participants would have appreciated a standardised follow-up process after discharge.
conclusionOur findings suggest that ED admission avoidance programmes may be an acceptable alternative treatment for older people requiring urgent care, potentially benefiting both public health systems and user experience.
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