Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Launches Geriatric Emergency Department

The accredited Geriatric Emergency Department at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is one of just three accreditation emergency departments in Pennsylvania – and the only one in Northeastern PA – to achieve accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).

“We are dedicated to providing specialized emergency care to our aging population and are focused on providing the highest level of care for our patients, their families and our community,” said Cornelio Catena, CEO. “We are grateful to ACEP for recognizing the expertise of our staff and the healing environment we have created for our senior community members.”

ACEP’s Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) program promotes the goals of quality care for older adult patients: enhanced staffing and education, geriatric-focused policies and protocols including transitions of care, quality improvement and outcomes, and preparation of the physical environment. ACEP launched this effort to improve and standardize emergency care for older patients and to recognize hospitals that meet and exceed national geriatric care guidelines.

“Older adults visit emergency rooms at a higher rate, often present with multiple chronic conditions and face more social and physical challenges than the general population,” said Paul Kivela, MD, MBA, FACEP, past president of ACEP. “Seniors visiting ACEP accredited emergency departments can be assured that the facility has the necessary expertise, equipment and personnel in place to provide optimal care. This initiative enhances acute geriatric emergency care, especially in rural areas, and helps seniors ease back into their daily lives after they visit the ER.”

The Geriatric ER is led by a remarkable team of inter-disciplinary leaders including Adam Perry, MD, Jill Cook, RN and Marianne Rupchis, RN, MSN. The GEDA program is the culmination of years of progress in emergency care of older adults. In 2014, ACEP along with Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Emergency Nurses Association, and American Geriatrics Society, developed and released geriatric ED guidelines, recommending measures ranging from adding geriatric-friendly equipment to specialized staff to more routine screening for delirium, dementia, and fall risk, among other vulnerabilities.

The voluntary GEDA program, which includes three levels similar to trauma center designations, provides specific criteria and goals for emergency clinicians and administrators to target. The accreditation process provides more than two dozen best practices for geriatric care and the level of GEDA accreditation achieved depends upon how many of these best practices an emergency department is able to meet. A Level 3 emergency department must incorporate many of these best practices, along with providing inter-disciplinary geriatric education, and having geriatric appropriate equipment and supplies available.

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