Assessing Older Patients' Vulnerability in the Emergency Department: A Study of InterRAI ED Screener Accuracy

Abstract

Background: Identifying vulnerable older patients admitted to an emergency department (ED) who are at increased risk for adverse events and require a comprehensive geriatric assessment remains a major challenge. The interRAI Emergency Department Screener (EDS) was developed for this specific purpose, but data regarding its validity are scarce.

Objectives: To determine (1) convergent validity of the EDS with results of a geriatrician's assessment in defining the need for prompt versus delayed/no further geriatric assessment and (2) predictive validity of the EDS for hospital admission, prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS), and 30-day readmission.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: ED of an academic hospital in Switzerland.

Participants: Older patients, aged 75 years or older (N = 202), who visited the ED over a 4-month period. Patients with life-threatening conditions were excluded.

Measurements: Data for EDS were collected by two clinical nurses. A brief geriatric assessment was performed separately and interpreted by a geriatrician blinded to the EDS results. Orientation after ED discharge, hospital LOS, and 30-day readmission were retrieved from the administrative database.

Results: Participants were aged 83.2 ± 5.4 years, 56.9% were female, and 43.6% lived alone. Frequent findings at geriatric assessment were impairment in gait/balance (69.3%), polypharmacy (64.9%), cognitive impairment/delirium (48.2%), risk of malnutrition (46.0%), and mood impairment (38.1%). The proportions of participants who required prompt, delayed, and no further geriatric assessment, according to the EDS, were 27.2%, 29.2%, and 43.6%, respectively. The EDS had low sensitivity in predicting hospital admission (28.8%), prolonged LOS (26.3%), and 30-day readmission (26.1%), with the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (AUROC) being 51.8%, 48.1%, and 49.4%, respectively.

Conclusion: The EDS performed poorly in both convergent and predictive validity analyses, precluding its use as a screening tool in this ED environment. Further efforts should be undertaken to better target interventions to reduce adverse health trajectories in the older ED population.

Keywords: InterRAI; aged; emergency service; geriatric assessment; hospital.