Emergency Clinicians’ Perceptions of Communication Tools to Establish the Mental Baseline of Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

Background Evaluating older adults with altered mental status in emergency settings can be challenging due to the inability to obtain a history from patients directly and limited collateral information about the change from a patient’s mental status baseline. Documents and videos establishing a patient’s mental baseline could represent useful communication tools to aid emergency clinicians. Methods Qualitative interviews conducted with 22 emergency clinicians (12 physicians and 10 advanced practice providers) identified methods they use to determine baseline mental status of older adults in the ED and the perceived utility of document- and video-based information about an older adult’s baseline mental status. Interview transcripts were coded for dominant themes using deductive and inductive approaches. Results Participants determine an older adult’s baseline mental status by obtaining information about the patient’s baseline cognition (memory and communication) and function (activities of daily living and mobility). The techniques they use include 1) reviewing the electronic medical record, 2) speaking with family members or caregivers by phone or in person, and 3) obtaining verbal or phone reports from emergency medical services personnel or health care providers from short- or long-term care facilities. The majority of participants thought that a document or video with information about a patient’s baseline mental status would be useful (n=15, 68%), qualifying that content ought to be brief, clearly dated, and periodically updated. Conclusions Documents or videos could assist emergency clinicians in establishing baseline cognitive function when evaluating geriatric patients and may have implications for improving the detection of delirium.