Geriatrik acil servisler gerekli midir? Hasta ve hasta yakınlarının gözünden bir değerlendirme

Introduction: Elderly patients’ emergency department admission is increasing and constitutes 1/3 of all admissions. The aim of the study is to determine the factors affecting geriatric patients’ satisfaction in the emergency departments, and to increase their satisfaction with our recommendations.Methods: Data were collected with face-to-face interview technique to the elderly patients or their companions in the emergency department for 50 days, prospectively. In the questionnaire, there are questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients such as age, gender, educational status and the design and architecture of the emergency department, and its suitability for the elderly patient.Results: There are 359 individuals accepted to join the face-to-face interview survey. The majority of the participants (93,87%, n=337) thought that there should be a separated emergency department for geriatrics, 95,26% (n=342) of them stated that if a geriatric emergency department was established, they would prefer, 99.72% (n=358) of them wanted to be informed at every step of the treatment and follow-up, 96,10% (n=345) of them argued that they need a separate physical space, 95.82% (n=344) of them stated that the area should be noise-free, 98.05% (n=352) of them wanted an examination bed where they could easily lie down/get up, 83.00% (n=298) of them wanted to have a walker/cane that they could use, and 98.05% (n=352) of them wanted unobtrusive lighting.Conclusion: In the emergency medical care of geriatric patients, identifying their needs and improving service delivery will contribute to increase the quality of patient care.