Category: Opinion

Between 2016-2017, there were 1.6 million emergency department visits among people over the age of 65. The three most common presentations where chest pain, and musculoskeletal issues related to falls ( Falls Resulting in Patient Harm in Hospitals, 2018). Dementia people living in residential aged care facilities are vulnerable, frail and often have many comorbidities that put them at risk of falls (Fernando et al., 2017). For many of these resident’s hospitalisation, carries it with it a lot of risks. (Bail et al., 2015) Found that urinary tract infections, pressure areas, pneumonia and delirium are preventable hospital acquired complications that place a heavy financial burden on the health care system. Studies show that while people with dementia are at higher risk of hospital readmission, many of these hospitalisations are preventable (Ma et al., 2019).