Emergency Medicine International (Jan 2019)

Characteristics of Elderly Long-Term Care Residents Who Were Injured and Transferred to Hospital Emergency Departments in Korea: A Retrospective Multicenter Study

  • Myeong Namgung,
  • Keon Kim,
  • Dong Hoon Lee,
  • Ho Young Yune,
  • Jung Hee Wee,
  • Duk Ho Kim,
  • Eui Chung Kim,
  • Jee Yong Lim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7803184
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2019

Abstract

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The objective of this retrospective multicenter study was to investigate the mechanism and characteristics of trauma experienced by patients aged ≥65 years who were transferred from a long-term care hospital to one of five university hospital emergency departments. Of 255,543 patients seen in one of the five emergency departments, 79 were transferred from a long-term care hospital because of trauma. The most common trauma mechanism was slipping down, with 33 (58.9%) patients, followed by falling from a bed (17.9%), striking an object such as a wall or corner (10.7%), overextending a joint (8.9%), and unknown mechanisms (3.6%). Many cases of slip (39.4%) occurred in relation to the bathroom. Comparing slip and fall from a bed, we found more hip fractures (95.2%) because of slipping down than falling from a bed (57.1%); traumatic brain injury only occurred in slip cases. These traumas cause significant morbidity in elderly patients; therefore, we sought to identify strategies that prevent slip in long-term care hospitals.