Balancing Cure and Care for Geriatric Patients With Frailty in Emergency Care: A Qualitative Study

Emergency care professionals experience challenges balancing cure and care for geriatric patients with frailty owing to the fast-paced, diagnosis-focused culture of emergency care. Frustration arises when they are unable to provide the quality of care they believe patients need. Empowering emergency care professionals to take a leading role in delivering holistic care, providing specialized geriatric education, and developing tools to assess and treat patients with frailty more effectively can contribute to better care. Transitioning toward geriatric-friendly emergency departments and implementing geriatric emergency medicine programs could help improve care quality and reduce provider frustration.