Jennifer Foss is a registered nurse and director of emergency services at Westerly Hospital, which has recently earned accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians as a Health System Geriatric Emergency Department.
Westerly Hospital is a member of Yale New Haven Health System, which earned the accreditation for nine of its emergency departments. Yale New Haven Health is among 13 health systems nationwide to have been awarded the designation.
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Foss discusses what the GED accreditation means for emergency room patients in Westerly.
PBN: How will an older person’s visit to the Westerly Hospital emergency department differ from a visit to a hospital that does not have the GED accreditation?
FOSS: A visit to Westerly Hospital will differ from a visit to a hospital that does not have GED accreditation as geriatric EDs embrace a variety of best practices focused on those 65 and above.
GED-accredited emergency departments focus on staff education, interdisciplinary staffing and providing standardized approaches to care that address common geriatric issues. Modifications to the physical environment will also be taken into consideration depending on the individual needs of the patient.
In addition, Westerly Hospital will work toward ensuring optimal transitions of care from the emergency department to other settings – inpatient, home, community-based care, rehabilitation, long-term care.
PBN: Roughly what percentage of Westerly’s emergency department patients are considered geriatric?
FOSS: Westerly Hospital saw 11,234 patients who were greater than 65 years of age in 2021. This accounted for 55.8% of our total yearly volume in the emergency department.
PBN: What were some of the requirements that Westerly Hospital and Yale New Haven Health had to meet to earn GED accreditation?
FOSS: Westerly Hospital was accredited as a Level 3 geriatric site. In order to meet this criteria, both physician and nurse leaders had to provide evidence of education centered around the care of the geriatric population.
In addition to demonstrating that we were committed to the care and well-being of this population, Westerly Hospital enacted additional protocols for the care of the elderly patient. One specific protocol was the addition of the CAM Assessment tool that screens for delirium in patients age 65 and over.
PBN: Was accreditation training completed by just physicians, or did it extend to nurses and other emergency department staff?
FOSS: Geriatric education was completed by both physicians and nurses.
PBN: How often will Westerly and Yale New Haven Health have to apply for reaccreditation?
FOSS: The reaccreditation process takes place every three years.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
