{"id":2879,"date":"2019-07-12T14:50:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T21:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/experts-develop-new-tool-to-track-injuries-in-older-adults\/"},"modified":"2023-11-26T08:28:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T16:28:40","slug":"experts-develop-new-tool-to-track-injuries-in-older-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/experts-develop-new-tool-to-track-injuries-in-older-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts develop new tool to track injuries in older adults"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Experts develop new tool to track injuries in older adults<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n \n July 12, 2019<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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An estimated 10 percent of older adults experience some form of abuse each year. However, the link between injuries and possible elder abuse may take months or years to establish and is often difficult to investigate due to poor documentation during prior medical visits.
\nGeriatric experts now hope to standardize the process of documenting physical injuries on older adult patients and make the medical record more thorough with the creation of the Geriatric Injury Documentation Tool (Geri-IDT)<\/strong>. The tool emerged from a new study<\/a> led by Laura Mosqueda, MD<\/a>, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC<\/a> and professor of family medicine. The study confirms the need for improved documentation, detailing what experts believe are the most effective factors to achieve it.
\nResults of the study were presented Feb. 14 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine<\/em>. The study was informed by interviews with elder abuse experts across the United States, including physicians, detectives and prosecutors, and focus groups with clinicians at emergency medicine and primary care sites.
\n\u201cBecause older adults are more vulnerable to injuries like fractures and bruising, it is often difficult to distinguish if an injury is due to an accident or abuse,\u201d said Mosqueda, who is also director of the National Center on Elder Abuse. \u201cThis tool includes diagrams and a brief questionnaire that makes it easier to document an injury and reminds clinicians about what to ask and observe during the exam. We believe this will move us toward more comprehensive injury documentation and ultimately result in better medical care.\u201d
\nExperts confirmed that current documentation of geriatric injuries is usually inadequate for investigating alleged elder abuse and neglect. As such, they highlighted the need for documenting:<\/p>\n