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Trinity Health designs innovative Emergency Room for seniors with quieter, private rooms, and staff trained in geriatrics.
Studies show that seniors, over the age of 75, are the largest demographic of persons treated in emergency rooms, other than newborn babies. To accommodate the special needs of seniors, Trinity Health, which owns hospitals in 7 states in the U.S., has designed and opened 8 'seniors' emergency room facilities in Michigan. Park Plaza Hospital and Medical Center in Houston, Texas, also debuted, a similar facility in October.
The emergency rooms are designed to be seniors friendly. The patient rooms have walls instead of curtains, to permit privacy and the ability for staff to speak loudly, but privately, with patients, who are hard of hearing. The room lights are on a dimmer switch, the mattresses have extra padding and the floors are made with non-glare materials to assist patients with dementia or eye issues.
The walls of the emergency room are painted in rich brownish gold tones, accented with white to clearly mark where rooms begin and end.
The most important feature of the 'seniors' emergency rooms is the staff, trained in geriatrics. Each emergency room has a geriatric social worker on staff. Issues facing the elderly usually involve chronic issues which take time to resolve.
Long waiting periods and noise levels are disruptive to senior patients, especially those with hearing problems or dementia. Isolating senior patients ensures quieter, more comfortable care can be administered.
Dr. Bill Thomas, professor at the Erickson School at the University of Maryland explains the philosophy, "And what's different in this innovation is now the emergency department is saying, we're going to change to meet the needs of the older people, not the other way around."
