A Study on the Geriatric Patients Applied to the Emergency Internal Medicine Service

INTRODUCTION[|]In parallel with the increase in the elderly population in our country as in the world, the rate of the patients applied to the emergency services has shown an increase. The present study aims to investigate the application reasons of the patients aged 65 and over who were followed up in our emergency internal medicine unit, to examine their current diseases, to treat their newly-emerging acute problems, and to evaluate their follow-up processes.[¤]METHODS[|]All patients aged 65 and over, who applied to the Emergency Internal Medicine Unit a tour hospital between October 2017 and December 2017, were retrospectively evaluated in this study. Gender, current disease, application reason and diagnosis (including ICD 10 codes) of the patients were recorded through their files. Applications were examined retrospectively through the hospital information system, and all data were entered into the program called SPSS 20.00 in the computer environment.[¤]RESULTS[|]The mean age of 310 geriatric patients aged 65 and over who were examined in this study was 76.6.The youngest age was 65 and the oldest age was 103. Furthermore, it was found that 149 (47.9%) of the patients were men, 161 (51.8%) of them were women, 129 (41.5%) of them were between the ages of 65 and 74, 133 (42.8%) of them were between the ages of 75 and 84, 48 (15.4%) of them were in the age of >85. The most common diseases were cardiovascular system diseases, gastrointestinal system diseases and urinary system diseases. [¤]DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION[|]In our day, the rate of the elderly population applied to emergency services has increased. It has been found that the most common diseases are cardiovascular system diseases, gastrointestinal system diseases and urinary system diseases. In the first examination of the patients at hospitals, determination of the methods on diseases in accordance with their physical examination findings, anamnesis and medical treatment will be beneficial in terms of their life quality and survival.[¤]