_edited.png){kind=small}
Geriatric Emergency Medicine
In the Mater Emergency Medicine Department, we're working hard to improve care for older patients in our ED through clinical governance, education and advocacy. If you're interested in getting involved, contact Vinny Ramiah or Deirdre Breslin (ED Consultants) or our ANPs, Rico Laguna and Roisin Riches.
"We have opportunities for GEM clinical fellowships and specialist nursing role as well as senior HSCP positions. The service plans to grow and develop further links into the wider community and establish a dedicated geriatric zone on the acute floor"
At the Mater ED we have developed the largest front door frailty service in the country comprising a multidisciplinary team helping to manage older frail patients who attend.
A Frailty Intervention Therapy Team (FITT) comprising advanced nurse practitioners,medical social workers, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dieticians, pharmacists and SALT is based in the ED to improve and expedite elderly patients' care.
A liaison geriatrician who works alongside a specialist geriatric emergency medicine registrar to provide medical care alongside the emergency medicine team.
We've developed specific pathways of care including rapid ED or virtual follow-up following discharge with the frailty service. Comprehensive geriatric assessment forms the backbone of the assessment but also integrates newer technologies such as the use of a phenomenon or to assess for orthostatic hypotension. An integrated care team facilitate discharge of vulnerable suitable patients from the ED. Direct access to a lower acuity geriatric off-suite unit in Fairview (PACU) or rehabilitation in St Marys Hospital or Clontarf orthopaedic units can be arranged with consultation. Rapid access clinics for falls and geriatric work-up operate in St. Mary's Hospital and Charter Clinic, Smithfield.
We have developed a specialist Silver trauma clinic to provide intensive patient centred care to frail older patients following trauma who have attended the emergency department. This unique venture provides an alternative trauma pathway compared to traditional routes and offers the opportunities for optimising trauma care in frail older patients.
The Mater geriatric emergency medicine service offers the opportunity to doctors and nurses to develop their skills in this ever increasing important area of emergency medicine.