The WHO defines the elderly population as 65 years and older. Today's trends show that the elderly population is increasing day by day in the world and in 2050, one out of every 6 people will be 65 years or older. In the report titled 'World Population Expectations: 2019 Revision' prepared by the United Nations has been envisaged that, the population of 80 years old and above, which is 143 million today, is tripled in 2050 and rising to 426 million. The increase in the elderly population made it necessary to perceive the problems of the elderly better. The physiological, biological and mental change that develops in the human organism with aging decreases the adaptation to the changing living conditions and makes the individual vulnerable to diseases and traumas. As a result of this decrease in compliance, they are caught with diseases more frequently and they also have to struggle with many health problems. So, elderly patients apply to health centers especially emergency services (ER) more frequently. 15% of patients coming to ER are older, and it is expected that this value will increase to be around 40% in the following years. Due to the rapid increase in the geriatric population, it is important for emergency services to develop supports to meet the care of these patients. The need for special care for elderly patients who remain in the emergency departments longer, have complicated medical conditions, need more and more advanced examination and treatment, have progressive age-specific problems becomes evident day by day. With this project, which will be carried out with European partners, we aimed to improve the medical treatment and care of the geriatric patients from the time they are taken by the emergency health services to the time they leave the emergency room and to establish standards on the subject. In total, 5 organisations will be collaborating during this project. The assembled consortium consists of GESEME from Spain, University of Transilvania (UTBv) Medical School from Romania, Health Science University Antalya Training and Research Hospital (HSUATRH), Emergency Medical Experts Association (ATUDER) and Antalya Health Directorate from Turkey.Our project activities: - 18 Emergency Medicine Experts will take a trainer training course on Geriatric Emergency at EU standards for 5 days in GESEME/Spain. At the end of this training, their knowledge and experience about Geriatric patients will increase. - Trainer trainers will share their experience and knowledge with emergency medicine specialists in their own institutions and other hospitals, and give trainings in selected pilot units upon their return to the country. The trainers will train all their colleagues to share their knowledge and a standard of care for the geriatric emergency room will be established. - A training booklet and an e-module will be created on the subject. Since HSUATRH is a hospital that trains assistants, training modules can be used both in ambulance services and in the hospital. Since these outputs will also be on the project website, relevant institutions or individuals both in Turkey and in Europe can access them at any time. - A Curriculum about Geriatric Emergency will be prepared. Since HSUATRH is a university hospital, curriculum is required for assistant education. The curriculum to be created will then be an example to the whole country and European countries. - A feasibility report will be prepared on how the geriatric emergency service should be. - A mobile application will be prepared for healthcare professionals regarding drug use in Geriatric Patients. Drug interactions are the most challenging issue of emergency doctors in elderly patients. Because the elderly use a lot of medication and the medicines are changing very quickly. Such an application would be extremely effective for both the emergency room doctor and elderly patients. This application will prevent loss of time and errors and prevent deaths due to wrong drug use. It will ensure that the emergency service is optimized. - Geriatric Emergency quality and safety standards will be established. - A legislation on Geriatric Emergency will be developed and a regulation infrastructure will be created to present to the Ministry of Health. - 2 articles about Geriatric Emergency will be prepared. 2 studies about the care of patients over 65 years old who come to the emergency department will be conducted and the effectiveness of the geriatric emergency department will be evaluated. - Pilot geriatric emergency unit will be established in HSUATRH. - 4 transnational meetings will be held to work together project outputs and to monitor developments. - 2 project dissemination seminars will be held to announce the project to the entire Geriatric emergency community and to ensure that they are injured from the project outputs. A model will be added to t newly developing Geriatric Emergency Service concept all over the world with the project.
Within the scope of the project, it is mainly aimed that: • to shape the newly emerging geriatric emergency medicine concept in our country, • to develop Turkey's first geriatric emergency service model, • to bring legal regulations and standards in physical infrastructure, personnel requirements in ERs and training to emergency HCWs (healthcare workers) in Turkey; Besides, a comprehensive evaluation of the special conditions of these patients by preparing a geriatric emergency service curriculum, presenting a legislative proposal to the ministry of health for the geriatric emergency service, preparing training modules for pre-hospital and hospital health workers, preparing a feasibility report for the establishment of geriatric emergency service, preparing a drug-drug interaction application are the other additional achievements. As a result of the project, it was aimed to write two articles and to provide quality health services with indicators in accordance with quality standards in health. The project website provides uninterrupted and up-to-date literature information 24 hours a day. It is aimed to popularize the practice by making the project outputs suitable for our partners' own country conditions.
The elderly population is defined as people aged 65 and over by WHO and the elderly population has been growing constanly in years. According to the UN report named “World Population Prospects: 2019 Revision”, the population aged 80 and over, which is 143 million today, will be tripled to reach 426 million in 2050. The elderly population in Turkey increased by 24% between 2016 and 2021, reaching 8 million 245 thousand 124 people; and the ratio of the elderly population to the other population has increased from 8.3% (2016) to 9.7 (2021). It is predicted that this rate will be 11% in 2025, 22.6% in 2060 and 25.6% in 2080. The changes that occur in the human organism with aging reduce the adaptation to life and reveal many health problems. The rate of elderly patients who apply to emergency services more frequently is 15-25%, and this rate is expected to reach 40%. Due to increasing of geriatric emergency patients, meeting the care demands of these patients and developing specific care methods have been required. With this project, it is aimed to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care of geriatric emergency patients during all emergency process from admission to discharge.