To determine how the elderly use the emergency room, the authors
compared emergency patients 65 years old and older with younger patients in
terms of demographics, clinical factors, patterns of emergency room use,
and clinicians' responses. They found that, like younger patients, the
elderly had scanty social supports but, unlike younger patients, came for
care repeatedly with somatic complaints. Despite coexisting medical and
psychiatric illnesses, these patients were generally managed by one service
without consultation from the other. The authors, who found no differences
in physicians' attitudes toward younger and older patients, emphasize the
need for a holistic, psychobiologic approach to the care of the elderly
emergency patient.Abstract Teaser