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A European Research Agenda for Geriatric Emergency Medicine: a modified Delphi study

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posted on 2021-06-18, 14:14 authored by SP Mooijaart, CH Nickel, SP Conroy, JA Lucke, LS van Tol, M Olthof, LC Blomaard, BM Buurman, ZD Dundar, B de Groot, B Gasperini, P Heeren, MA Karamercan, R McNamara, A Mitchell, JD van Oppen, FJ Martin Sanchez, Y Schoon, K Singler, R Spode, S Skúldóttir, T Thorrsteindottir, M van der Velde, J Wallace
Purpose: Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) focuses on delivering optimal care to (sub)acutely ill older people. This involves a multidisciplinary approach throughout the whole healthcare chain. However, the underpinning evidence base is weak and it is unclear which research questions have the highest priority. The aim of this study was to provide an inventory and prioritisation of research questions among GEM professionals throughout Europe. Methods: A two-stage modified Delphi approach was used. In stage 1, an online survey was administered to various professionals working in GEM both in the Emergency Department (ED) and other healthcare settings throughout Europe to make an inventory of potential research questions. In the processing phase, research questions were screened, categorised, and validated by an expert panel. Subsequently, in stage 2, remaining research questions were ranked based on relevance using a second online survey administered to the same target population, to identify the top 10 prioritised research questions. Results: In response to the first survey, 145 respondents submitted 233 potential research questions. A total of 61 research questions were included in the second stage, which was completed by 176 respondents. The question with the highest priority was: Is implementation of elements of CGA (comprehensive geriatric assessment), such as screening for frailty and geriatric interventions, effective in improving outcomes for older patients in the ED? Conclusion: This study presents a top 10 of high-priority research questions for a European Research Agenda for Geriatric Emergency Medicine. The list of research questions may serve as guidance for researchers, policymakers and funding bodies in prioritising future research projects.

Funding

The Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine in Old Age (S.P.M.) is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health and Welfare and supported by “ZonMW” (project number 62700.3001). PH is holder of a Ph.D. fellowship granted by Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) (1133320N).

History

Citation

European Geriatric Medicine (2021) 12:413–422

Author affiliation

Department of Health Sciences

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

European Geriatric Medicine

Volume

12

Pagination

413–422

Publisher

Springer

issn

1878-7649

eissn

1878-7657

Acceptance date

2020-10-29

Copyright date

2020

Available date

2021-06-18

Language

en

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