Department Blog

Steve Schenkel, MD, MPP, and Teresa Kostelec, BSN, from the ED at Mercy Medical Center; Laura Pimentel, MD, CPME, Chief Medical Officer of the Maryland Emergency Medicine Network; and Ivonne Berges, PhD, and Glenn Ostir, PhD, from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, published the article titled “Cognitive Health and Risk of ED Revisit in Underserved Older Adults” in the October issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine (34[10]:1973?1976). Their study group, mostly African-American women with an average age of 75 years, had overall cognitive scores lower than population norms. The investigators found a significant association between cognitive health and the odds of return to the ED in 60 or 90 days. Their observations hold implications for the format and content of discharge instructions, especially for patients with impaired cognitive function.