Inspira Medical Centers Mullica Hill and Vineland, part of Inspira Health, have earned the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The GEDA accreditation recognizes those emergency departments that provide excellent care for older adults.
Inspira Medical Centers Mullica Hill and Vineland Emergency Departments, both led by a team of inter-disciplinary leaders, have achieved the bronze standard – Level 3 GEDA accreditation, recognizing that both centers are focused on the highest standards of care for the communities’ older adults.
“This accreditation encompasses a journey filled with staff education and policy development to navigate our senior’s complicated medical care. This care is not only for the emergency on hand, but ensuring that these patients have a safe disposition home, access to food, utilities and prescription medications,” said Katie Schultes, M.D., Director, Senior Emergency Department, Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill. “We are pleased to offer our community a dedicated senior emergency department with a staff that is eager to help seniors navigate this stage in their lives.”
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 opportunity to provide specialized care to the senior citizens of our community is a privilege,” said Cecylia Kelley, D.O., Director of the Senior Emergency Department at Inspira Medical Center Vineland. “As we age, our needs and the needs of our support system evolve. Inspira recognizes the unique challenges that seniors face and is training a new generation of physicians to meet them in their future practices. Our physicians and staff are eager to care for this rapidly growing population.”
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.
