ENA Podcast · Emergency Nurses Association

Avoiding 'Blind spots' to Deliver Quality Geriatric Care

·25 min·2 clips

Dan Campana reveals how a pre-session at Emergency Nursing 2024 tackled overlooked challenges in geriatric care.

This episode explores strategies for improving emergency care for older adults by addressing common clinical and systemic blind spots. Host Dan Campana, ENA's Director of Communications, is joined by Dr. Chris Carter from the Mayo Clinic, Herschel Davis from ENA's DEI Committee, and Michelle Mosia from ENA's Geriatric Committee. The conversation expands on a popular pre-session from the Emergency Nursing 2024 conference. The discussion identifies specific gaps in recognizing conditions like delirium, which often presents differently in older patients than classic textbook cases. Panelists emphasize the risks of polypharmacy, where multiple medications can interact and cause adverse events in the geriatric population. They examine how implicit biases can lead to dismissing an older patient's pain or symptoms simply as "normal aging." Systemic issues within fast-paced emergency departments are cited as a barrier to conducting thorough geriatric assessments. A key insight is that a person's functional baseline—what they could do two weeks ago—is a more critical clinical indicator than their age or a single vital sign. The session highlights the importance of consulting with caregivers or family members who know the patient's normal behavior. Dr. Carter discusses the concept of a "learning health system" approach to continuously improve geriatric care protocols. Herschel Davis connects quality geriatric care directly to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Michelle Mosia points out that simple environmental modifications, like better lighting and non-slip floors, can significantly prevent in-hospital falls. The panel agrees that moving beyond age-based stereotypes to see the individual is fundamental to avoiding diagnostic errors. They advocate for nurses to leverage their unique, prolonged patient contact to spot subtle changes others might miss. The recorded conference session provides practical tools and checklists for immediate clinical application. The tone is collaborative and educational, focused on practical clinical improvement. The style is a structured panel discussion moderated by the host. Emergency nurses, charge nurses, and ED educators seeking actionable geriatric care strategies will find this episode valuable. Listeners looking for a broad healthcare policy debate or narrative patient stories might find the scope too focused.

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