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Referencing the content of EMT-Basic training and emergency patient care

EMT Basic · Chapter 36

Geriatric Emergencies

Learning objectives (15)

  1. Define an advance directive and considerations with older patients — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  2. Define polypharmacy and the toxicity issues that can result — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  3. Describe the common complaints and the leading causes of death in older people — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  4. Discuss the effect of aging on behavioral emergencies — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  5. Discuss the effects of aging on environmental emergencies — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  6. Discuss the physiologic changes associated with the aging process and the age-related assessment and treatment modifications that result — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  7. Discuss the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect; include why the extent of elder abuse is not well known — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  8. Explain special considerations when performing the patient assessment process on a geriatric patient with a medical condition — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  9. Explain special considerations when performing the patient assessment process on a geriatric patient with a traumatic injury — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  10. Explain special considerations when responding to calls at nursing and skilled care facilities — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  11. Explain the GEMS diamond and its role in the assessment and care of the geriatric patient — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  12. Explain the assessment and care of a geriatric patient who has potentially been abused or neglected — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  13. Know generational considerations when communicating with a geriatric patient — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  14. Recognize acts of commission or omission by a caregiver that result in harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a geriatric patient — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.
  15. Recognize some of the special aspects of the lives of older people — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1350); confirm wording in your course copy.

Vocabulary (11)

GEMS diamond
A geriatric assessment framework with four points — Geriatric patient, Environmental assessment, Medical assessment, Social assessment.
Polypharmacy
The use of multiple medications by a single patient — typically five or more — increasing the risk of drug interactions and adverse effects.
Delirium
An acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness, usually caused by an underlying medical condition, medication effect, or substance withdrawal.
Dementia
A chronic, progressive decline in cognitive function — memory, thinking, language, and judgment — severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Alzheimer's disease
The most common cause of dementia, marked by gradual loss of memory and other cognitive abilities and characteristic brain changes.
Osteoporosis
A disease that thins and weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to fracture from minor falls or everyday stresses.
Kyphosis
An exaggerated outward curvature of the upper spine that produces a rounded or hunched back, commonly seen with osteoporosis in older adults.
Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
Localized damage to skin and underlying tissue over a bony prominence resulting from sustained pressure, often combined with shear or friction.
Fall risk
An older adult's increased likelihood of falling — a leading cause of injury — assessed by gait, balance, medications, vision, and home hazards.
Elder abuse
Intentional or negligent physical, emotional, sexual, or financial harm to an older adult by a caregiver or other person in a position of trust.
disorders/delirium
and-dementia/delirium. Accessed

Sequence practice (2 puzzles on Quiz Me)

GEMS diamond

Order the four points of the GEMS assessment framework for older adults.

  1. G — Geriatric patient (unique presentations, atypical complaints)
  2. E — Environmental assessment (safety, fall hazards, temperature)
  3. M — Medical assessment (history, medications, comorbidities)
  4. S — Social assessment (support system, caregivers, isolation)
Ground-level fall on a blood thinner

Order EMT priorities for an older adult who fell and takes anticoagulants.

  1. Treat as high-risk: assume occult bleeding until proven otherwise
  2. Take a meticulous history of mechanism, meds, and prior falls
  3. Perform a careful head-to-toe with special attention to head/spine
  4. Spinal motion restriction per protocol if any red flags
  5. Transport — low threshold for trauma-center evaluation

Quick fire sample (10 of 10 on Quiz Me)

A geriatric assessment framework with four points — Geriatric patient, Environmental assessment, Medical assessment, Social assessment.
  1. GEMS diamond
  2. Polypharmacy
  3. Osteoporosis
  4. Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
The use of multiple medications by a single patient — typically five or more — increasing the risk of drug interactions and adverse effects.
  1. Alzheimer's disease
  2. Polypharmacy
  3. Dementia
  4. Osteoporosis
An acute, fluctuating disturbance of attention and awareness, usually caused by an underlying medical condition, medication effect, or substance withdrawal.
  1. Elder abuse
  2. Delirium
  3. Alzheimer's disease
  4. Osteoporosis
A chronic, progressive decline in cognitive function — memory, thinking, language, and judgment — severe enough to interfere with daily life.
  1. Polypharmacy
  2. Dementia
  3. Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
  4. Delirium
The most common cause of dementia, marked by gradual loss of memory and other cognitive abilities and characteristic brain changes.
  1. Alzheimer's disease
  2. Kyphosis
  3. Delirium
  4. Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
A disease that thins and weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to fracture from minor falls or everyday stresses.
  1. Kyphosis
  2. Osteoporosis
  3. Fall risk
  4. Polypharmacy
An exaggerated outward curvature of the upper spine that produces a rounded or hunched back, commonly seen with osteoporosis in older adults.
  1. Delirium
  2. Elder abuse
  3. Kyphosis
  4. Dementia
Localized damage to skin and underlying tissue over a bony prominence resulting from sustained pressure, often combined with shear or friction.
  1. GEMS diamond
  2. Dementia
  3. disorders/delirium
  4. Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
An older adult's increased likelihood of falling — a leading cause of injury — assessed by gait, balance, medications, vision, and home hazards.
  1. Fall risk
  2. Elder abuse
  3. Pressure injury (decubitus ulcer)
  4. Kyphosis
Intentional or negligent physical, emotional, sexual, or financial harm to an older adult by a caregiver or other person in a position of trust.
  1. disorders/delirium
  2. Elder abuse
  3. GEMS diamond
  4. Polypharmacy

Some topics in this course differ across field references. See when sources disagree on Quiz Me before you teach from this sheet alone.

Full scored drills are on Quiz Me at /courses/nm-emt-b/chapters/36/print/. Answers are not marked on this sheet.