The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), with support from The Gary and Mary West Health Institute and John A. Hartford Foundation, implemented the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) program to recognize those emergency departments that provide excellent care for older adults. We are proud to announce that AdventHealth Gordon’s emergency department has achieved the bronze standard — Level 3 GEDA accreditation.
Led by a remarkable team of interdisciplinary leaders at AdventHealth Gordon, this accreditation shows that the facility is focused on the highest standards of care for the community’s older adults.
Seniors who visit emergency departments accredited by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) can feel confident that they will receive high-quality care. AdventHealth Gordon has the necessary expertise, equipment and team members to provide optimal care for geriatric patients.
The GEDA program is the culmination of years of progress in emergency care of older adults. In 2014, ACEP, along with the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Emergency Nurses Association and American Geriatrics Society, developed and released geriatric ED guidelines, recommending measures ranging from adding geriatric-friendly equipment to specialized staff to more routine screening for delirium, dementia and fall risk, among other vulnerabilities.
The voluntary GEDA program, which includes three levels similar to trauma center designations, provides specific criteria and goals for emergency clinicians and administrators to target. The accreditation process provides more than two dozen best practices for geriatric care, and the level of GEDA accreditation achieved depends upon how many of these best practices an emergency department is able to meet. A Level 3 emergency department must incorporate many of these best practices, along with providing interdisciplinary geriatric education and have geriatric appropriate equipment and supplies available.
“I’m incredibly proud of our emergency department team for this achievement,” said Chris Self, president and CEO of AdventHealth Gordon. “Our priority is to provide compassionate and quality care for our senior patients and to help them return to their normal daily lives as quickly as possible. We’re here to help them feel whole physically, mentally and spiritually.”