Emergency Department Observation Unit Utilization Among Older Patients With Chest Pain

Background: Although some emergency department observation units (EDOUs) may exclude patients over 65 years old, our EDOU accepts patients up to 79 years old. We assessed the utilization of our EDOU by older patients (those 65–79 years old). Methods: We prospectively enrolled emergency department (ED) patients with chest pain. We gathered baseline data at the time of ED presentation and tracked outcomes related to the ED stay, EDOU, and/or inpatient admission. Our primary outcome included EDOU placement among older patients. Our secondary outcome was the rate of major adverse cardiac events [MACE: myocardial infarction, stent, coronary artery bypass graft, and death]. Results: Over the 5-year study period, we evaluated 2242 ED patients with chest pain, of whom 19.4% (95% confidence interval, 17.8%–21.1%) were 65–79 years old. Older patients were more likely to be placed in the EDOU after the ED visit (45.8% vs. 36.6%; P = 0.001) and more likely to be admitted to an inpatient unit from the ED (31.8% vs. 17.9%;P
Source: Critical Pathways in Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research