Identifying facilitators and barriers to integrated and equitable care for community-dwelling older adults with high emergency department use from historically marginalized groups.

About

Older adults are among the most prevalent users of Emergency Departments. For some older adults, their visits to the Emergency Department are not always because of an emergency medical situation. This project identifies the unmet care needs of community-dwelling older adults (aged 65+) and the social, structural, and systemic inequities that have contributed to their potentially avoidable visits to the Emergency Department. Given the heavy burden on many emergency departments in hospitals across Canada, it is important to address the issues that lead to avoidable visits so that resources can be directed appropriately, and to make sure that the needs of health service users are adequately met. We hope that this study can identify the key factors that lead to avoidable Emergency Department visits for seniors and inform how to better address their care needs.

This project began in December 2022 and is currently recruiting participants and their family caregivers from the Saint John Regional Hospital and St. Joseph’s Critical Care Unit in Saint John, New Brunswick. The project has since been replicated at the Montfort Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario.

Funding

New Brunswick Health Research Foundation

Medical Student Summer Research Program, University of Ottawa

Research Team

Project Lead: Krystal Kehoe MacLeod kmacleod@bruyere.org

Research Coordinator: Eunice Hammond ehammond@ohri.ca

2024 Research Assistant (ON): Paul Ioudovski paul.ioudovski@uottawa.ca

2024 Research Assistant (ON): Khachadour Bandk kband100@uottawa.ca

2023-24 Research Assistant (NB): Karyle Nama Flores karyle.flores@horizonnb.ca

2023-24 Research Assistant (ON): Katelyn Wang katelyn.wang@uottawa.ca

presentations

McDougall P, Flores K, Wang K, Hammond E, Johnston S, Maloney B, Ireland L, Chandra K, Kehoe MacLeod K. June 9-12, 2024. Exploring the drivers of potentially avoidable emergency room visits by community-dwelling older adults from historically marginalized groups in New Brunswick and Ontario. Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Annual Research Meeting. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Poster presentation.

Wang K, Flores K, Hammond E, Johnston S, Chandra K, Kehoe MacLeod K. May 13-17, 2024. Identifying facilitators and barriers to integrated and equitable care for community-dwelling older adults with high emergency department use from historically marginalized groups in Ontario and New Brunswick. Le 91e Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir. Ottawa, Ontario. Oral presentation.

Wang K, Flores K, Hammond E, Johnston S, Chandra K, Kehoe MacLeod K. May 13-17, 2024. Identifying facilitators and barriers to integrated and equitable care for community-dwelling older adults with high emergency department use from historically marginalized groups in Ontario and New Brunswick. Symposium à l’Institut de Savoir Montfort, Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir. Ottawa, Ontario. Poster presentation.

Wang K, Flores K, Hammond E, Gibb M, Johnston S, Chandra K, Kehoe MacLeod K. May 14-16, 2024. Exploring the drivers of potentially avoidable emergency room visits by community-dwelling older adults from historically marginalized groups in New Brunswick and Ontario. Canadian Association of Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) 2024. Ottawa, Ontario. Poster presentation.

Kehoe MacLeod K, Jamieson L, Wang K, Flores K, Hammond E, Johnston S, Maloney B, Ireland L, & Chandra, K. Apr 22-24, 2024. Identifying barriers to integrated and equitable care for older adults from minority groups leading to potentially avoidable emergency department visits. The International Conference on Integrated Care. Belfast, Northern Ireland. Oral presentation.

Wang K, Flores K, Hammond E, Johnston S, Chandra K, Kehoe MacLeod K. (Nov 15-16, 2023). Identifying facilitators and barriers to integrated and equitable care for community-dwelling older adults with high emergency department use from historically marginalized groups in Ontario and New Brunswick. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Research Day 2023. Ottawa, Ontario. Poster presentation.

*currently recruiting*

We are currently recruiting for this project in Ottawa.