Elderly Parents In Carlsbad May Soon Enjoy Specialized Emergency Rooms

Senior Emergency Rooms For Elderly Parents Near North San Diego CountyA new trend is growing in popularity among hospitals that have a special concern for serving the elderly: Emergency rooms that are specifically designed to serve seniors and accommodate their special needs.

Prompted by the confusion and inefficient service that prominent hospital officials have observed in their own facilities, these special emergency rooms aim to customize their check-in, processing, and treatment processes to make sure that seniors get the help they need.

A General Approach to Health

One important factor in assisting elderly parents  in Carlsbad in the emergency room is knowing their recent medical history. It’s not enough to just find out what prescriptions they are currently on; doctors and nurses can better serve a patient if they have some idea of the parent’s mental acuity, chronic pain, and even dietary needs.

Because these needs are often complex for the elderly to report accurately, senior emergency room staff members make it a point to gather general health information on each patient they help.  For clients receiving in-home caregiving from A Servant’s Heart Care Solutions, much of this information is already available in a customized care plan for each client and an extra copy of that care plan is always available in the client’s home to give to paramedics or doctors in the emergency room.

A Gentler Environment

Simple things that are a normal part of most emergency rooms, like smooth, waxed floors, can pose a danger to seniors. The atmosphere in senior emergency rooms is comfortable, softly lit, and designed to provide extra help to handicapped patients. Even the documents used in check-in have extra-large print for ease of reading.

Great Results for Elderly Parents In Carlsbad

The success of the fifteen or so senior emergency rooms currently in use around the nation make it likely that many more will soon appear including here in San Diego County. In-home caregivers of the elderly in Carlsbad can minimize the stress of a visit to the emergency room for seniors by having important information like prescriptions ready to go at all times. If a senior has any special needs, make sure to let doctors and nurses know about them.

A trip to the emergency room is no picnic for anyone, but with the elderly, there is a possibility that it could even make matters worse. Stress, confusion, and mistakes stemming from miscommunication can cause injury that becomes even more destructive than the original problem.  As recently reported in the AgingCare newsletter, the hope of designers is that senior emergency rooms will reduce this risk and eliminate return visits to the hospital.

Originally posted 2012-04-03 10:30:32.

Tim Colling
Tim Colling

Tim Colling is the founder and President of A Servant's Heart In-Home Care, which provided in-home caregiving services in San Diego County, and also of A Servant's Heart Geriatric Care Management, which provided
professional geriatric care management services and long term care placement services in San Diego County. Tim has more than 30 years of experience in management in a variety of industries. He held a Certified Care Manager credential from the National Academy of Certified Care Managers. Tim is also a Certified Public Accountant (retired), and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from California State University at San Diego. In addition to writing blog posts here for the Servant’s Heart blog, Tim also is a regular contributor to HealthLine.com and to FamilyAffaires.com as well as blogs of other eldercare services provider companies. Finally, Tim is also the president of A Servant's Heart Web Design and Marketing, which provides home care marketing as well as website design and online marketing for those who serve the elderly and their families.

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