Due to the complex nature of the needs of the elderly in the emergency room setting, there has been a movement to identify such high-risk patients through the initial triage in the emergency room. One such example is the Identification of Seniors At Risk (ISAR). The ISAR is used as a screening tool to expeditiously identify patients 65 years and older who are at risk for adverse outcomes while in emergency room setting as well as post–ED visit. The tool includes a six validated questionnaire which is used to isolate those patients who are potentially at a higher risk of hospital readmission within 30 days of hospital admission. The validity of the ISAR tool also aids in the assessment and screening of the frail elderly patient. …show more content…
The databases searched from the Mount Sinai Levy Library were the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL, PubMed’s Medline and several of OVID’s databases including Medline and Nursing. A reference list was utilized to evaluate relevant studies. During the related literature search, the following key phrases was used: ‘“identification of seniors at risk” for hospitalization.’ Other related topics were been searched on, as well. As a result, three articles were chosen. However due to limited access of information on this entirely newer concept of screening patients’ at risk for hospital admission and poorer outcomes, a Google Scholar search had to be utilized to build on the current known …show more content…
Between 2010 and 2011, they did a retrospective audit of their charts which determined that out of 51.6% of charts found that 61.2% of these patient who had a positive result on the ISAR were admitted and had, a longer emergency room and longer hospital stay. The strengths of the study included data collected that showed that of a large scale audit of patient charts, a total of 525 patient who were eligible to participate in this study of which 258 who had a negative ISAR and 159 had a positive ISAR. Of the 258 patient cart reviewed. 102 of the patient who tested positive for the ISAR were admitted to Hospital had longer length of stay and even death. However there were gaps and inconsistencies in the study during sample collection due to compliance from nursing staff willingness to complete the ISAR score and omission of charts were seen as a limitation to the study. According to the researchers, studies that cannot be supported need additional review in order to increase the knowledge and, more importantly to prevent stagnation of knowledge. Asomaning & Loftus