Winter Park (Fla.) Memorial Hospital has modified seven of its 26 emergency department rooms to be more senior-friendly, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
To cater to older patients, the modified rooms are equipped with hearing amplifiers, magnifying glasses and thicker mattresses and chairs to making sitting down and getting up easier.
Additionally, all nurses and emergency room physicians at the hospital have received specialized geriatric care training to help the staff connect seniors with the social services they might need.
Older patients who visit Winter Park's ED will also be given a six-item questionnaire in triage to asses their memory, number of medications and hospitalizations, vision and the status of their social support.
Patients who are 70 years old or older who score high on the questionnaire will be placed on the "senior track," meaning they'll be allowed to sit in a separate, quieter ED waiting area. They'll also be assigned to a senior room to be screened further by a care coordinator who will share his or her findings with the patient's nurses and physicians and connect the patient with whatever services they need.
Winter Park's senior-friendly ED is the first of its kind in Orlando and one of roughly 100 in the country, according to the report. There are currently no standards or special accreditations for senior EDs, despite the budding need for the geriatric subspecialty.