Covenant HealthCare ER Achieves Senior Accreditation
Second Hospital in the
State, Only in the Region
Covenant HealthCare added the Great Lakes Bay Region’s first
Senior Emergency Care Center in 2017 with the senior population in mind. The
Covenant medical team wanted to take this one step further, applying for
Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) from the American College
of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in 2018.
Last week, the ACEP announced the Covenant Emergency Care
Center achieved the Bronze Standard – Level 3 GEDA Accreditation. Covenant is
the second hospital in the state of Michigan to obtain this accreditation, and
the only hospital in the region.
In a letter to Covenant President/CEO, Ed Bruff, the ACEP
states, “Led by a remarkable team of
inter-disciplinary leaders including Risty Kalivas, DO, and Jessica
Dematio, BSN, CEN, Covenant Medical Center’s accreditation signals to the
public that your institution is focused on the highest standards of care for
your communities’ older adults.”
“I’m incredibly proud of our team and their efforts to put
our patients first every day,” says Patrice Lanczak, BSN, MSN, MHA, RN,
Director of Emergency, Trauma, and Stroke Services. “This validates the work we
do to provide extraordinary care to every generation.”
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
Approximately 18 of the Covenant Emergency Care Center’s 65
beds have been designated for elderly patients. In designing an emergency
center to meet the distinct needs of older patients, physicians, nurses, and
hospital leaders included best practices such as:
-
Board-certified emergency doctors, nurses and residents with specialized
training in the care of senior patients. Seniors not only feel comfortable, but
also understood.
-
Senior-friendly rooms keep patients comfortable while social work
support, assessments and goals maximize independence.
-
All medications are closely monitored to avoid interactions, and more.
Physicians and hospital leaders believe that providing
specialized patient centric care to the elderly can reduce readmissions and
improve patient satisfaction.
As physician administrator of the Covenant Senior Care, Dr.
Risty Kalivas adds that senior emergency rooms can be the saving grace for many
elderly patients who need specialized treatment. “This can improve outcomes and
quality of life while reducing errors and costs,” he said. “The goal is to
better serve this portion of our community and continue a tradition of
providing extraordinary care for every generation.”
The population of seniors in the United States has been
growing steadily since 2011, which is the year the first Baby Boomers turned
65. Today individuals 65 and older represent 16.7 percent of Michigan’s
population. By 2030 experts estimate that number will swell.
Locally, the Covenant Emergency Care Center logged close to
94,000 patient visits in 2018. Of those patients:
-
22,235 patients were older than age 65 (24 percent of the hospitals
annual ECC visits).
-
Around 4,100 were age 85 to 94.
-
514 patients were older than age 95.
About the Covenant Emergency Care Center
Covenant HealthCare is the most preferred hospital for
emergency care, offering:
-
The only Level II Trauma Center verified by the American Academy of
Surgeons for both adult and pediatric trauma care
-
The region’s only specialized Pediatric Emergency Care
Center and Senior Emergency Care Center in the region
-
Only board-certified emergency physicians and trauma surgeons
-
More nurses with greater specialty training
-
Extraordinary compassion and service that has put Covenant in the top
10% for patient satisfaction among hospital emergency departments nationwide
-
The most comprehensive emergency department, caring for more patients
than any other emergency department in our twenty-county service area
-
Diagnostic equipment within the department
-
65 private patient rooms
-
Free valet parking
For more information, visit www.CovenantHealthCare.com/emergency