All St. Joseph Mercy Health System emergency departments will have specialty services for seniors by January in a bid to better treat Washtenaw County's growing population of older adults.

Earlier this week, the health system announced that it will be increasing geriatric medicine training among doctors and nurses in its eight emergency departments. It will also change standard protocols for patients over the age of 65 and improve the sensory experience for senior citizens in waiting and treatment rooms.

St. Joseph officials say they're the first Senior Emergency Department implemented in Michigan.

"Many older adults' care is more complicated and complex because they may have several chronic conditions, they may be taking multiple medications," said Joann Grosh, director of senior services for Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and co-chair of the Senior Emergency Department initiative. "Their care needs to be looked at differently."

All St. Joseph Mercy Health System emergency departments will have specialty services for seniors by January.

File photo

The initiative is one of the first changes the health system is making as part of a comprehensive plan to prepare for the aging Baby Boomer population - the oldest fast approaching their 65th birthdays.

It's part of a growing trend among emergency departments nationwide to better accommodate the expected boom of older patients.

Research has shown increasing evidence that older adults need to be treated differently.

For example, a study published by the American Geriatrics Society pointed out the design of emergency departments usually isn't set up well to provide care to geriatric patients, even though they are more likely to end up in the department than other patients.

Emergency departments are set up for quickly triaging patients and diagnosing them; they are often crowded, noisy and are flooded with bright fluorescent lighting.

It can make it difficult to effectively care for older patients who may have multiple health problems, may have cognitive impairments or difficulty hearing or seeing, and can make it easier to miss subtle symptoms of acute illness, the study pointed out. It can also lead to a lack of understanding of medical instructions by the senior patients.

By the start of the year, the St. Joseph Mercy's senior emergency departments may have larger fonts on signage and paperwork, bigger clocks on the walls, noise buffers and the availability of reading glasses and hearing amplifiers, and pressure-reducing mattresses.

The departments will also have different lighting, change flooring to materials that are less likely to be slippery or have a glare, and also make modifications to better dampen noise and add bigger nurse call buttons.

Officials say those changes could help - not only in making a patient experience more comfortable - but also increasing the likelihood seniors will understand information being provided while in the emergency department.

Behind the scenes, the changes may have an even bigger impact, officials say. Nurses in each emergency department will have been trained in geriatric medicine and care.

Patients will be evaluated or treated for risk of falling, potential medication risks, pre-existing conditions, dementia, living condition concerns, nutrition and depression. Since St. Mary Mercy Livonia began offering the program, it has had favorable responses, said Garry Faja, president and chief executive officer of the health system.

Each person visiting the senior emergency department will be evaluated for physical function, cognitive status and level of risk. A care plan will be developed upon discharge.

The goal is to catch any diagnosis, medication problems or other situations that might land the patient quickly back in the hospital again.

"All that in the end is looking at saving health care dollars because of improving patient outcomes," Grosh said.

Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.