Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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We sought to determine the prevalence of delirium in a Thai emergency department (ED). The secondary objective was to identify risk factors and short-term outcomes in delirious elderly ED patients. ⋯ In one middle-income country, elderly ED patients were delirious >10% of the time. Delirium was underdiagnosed and was associated with an increased 30-day mortality rate. Delirium screening needs to be improved, potentially focusing on high-risk patients.
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To synthesise the existing literature on the roles that emergency medical services (EMS) play in unplanned, urgent and emergency care for older people with dementia (OPWD), to define these roles, understand the strength of current research and to identify where the focus of future research should lie. ⋯ The use of EMS by OPWD is not well understood, although the literature reviewed demonstrated a concern for this group and awareness that services are not optimum. Research in dementia care should consider the role that EMS plays, particularly if considering crises, urgent care responses and transitions between care settings. EMS research into new ways of working, training or extended paramedical roles should consider specific needs and challenges of responding to people with dementia.
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We explored attitudes of non-urgent accident and emergency department (AED) patients in the middle-income healthcare setting Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the Caribbean to understand how and why they decide to seek emergency care and resist using primary care facilities. ⋯ We conclude that the attitudes and habits of the Vincentian non-urgent patient are major determinants of their AED use and are intricately linked to local, socially shared practices of AED use. Findings show that health services research should reconsider rational choice behaviour models and further explore customs of health-seeking.