ArticleEuropean geriatric medicine2026
Avoidable emergency department admissions among nursing home residents - insights from a retrospective study.
Article in European geriatric medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prehospital emergency medical service missions to nursing homes - a descriptive retrospective register-based study in Southwest Finland.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Advance care planning by proxy for residential aged care facility residents: results of a pilot interventional study.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe number of nursing home residents (NHRs) admitted to emergency departments (EDs) is steadily increasing. Some of these admissions have been identified as potentially avoidable. This study aims to quantify avoidable admissions at a Belgian hospital and identify factors associated with these admissions. A retrospective assessment tool is also proposed for the rapid identification of avoidable admissions.
methodsOne-year retrospective descriptive study of NHR admissions to the ED of a Belgian university hospital. The avoidability of each admission was assessed using a retrospective assessment tool and independently assessed by two geriatricians based on clinical judgment. The sensitivity and specificity of the tool were measured against clinical judgment as the reference standard.
resultsA total of 246 NHRs visited the ED, accounting for 327 admissions. Based on clinical judgment, 22.6% of admissions were deemed potentially avoidable. Direct costs were estimated. The retrospective assessment tool identified a rate of 14.1% (specificity: 98.4% and sensitivity: 56.8%). The most common presenting complaints for avoidable admissions were falls (26.1%), minor catheter-related issues (13.5%), and wounds (8.1%). No significant differences were observed in population and NH characteristics between avoidable and non-avoidable admissions.
conclusionWe identified approximately one in five ED admissions among NHRs as potentially avoidable. This work also presents a specific tool enabling identification and quantification of avoidable admissions. Detecting the most common "avoidable" presenting complaints and diagnoses associated with avoidable admissions presents potential opportunities to explore alternative care solutions within nursing homes.
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