GEMCAST

What if the most important thing we can do for an older adult in the emergency department (ED) isn’t just to treat what brought them in - but to protect what matters most to them? Introducing the 4Ms framework: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility, a foundation for delivering age-friendly care. In today’s episode, Dr. David Zodda joins GEMCast host Dr. Christina Shenvi to share his ex...

Every time a patient comes to the Emergency Department (ED) for care, there is an opportunity to identify and address factors in their life that may be contributing to their presentation. Social determinants of health (SDOH), including housing instability, access to transportation, economic hardship, and access to healthcare, are the non-medical aspects of a person’s life that influence their heal...

In today’s episode of GEMCast, host Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. Cameron Gettel to discuss a critical but often overlooked issue in the emergency department (ED): the emergency care needs of family caregivers for persons living with dementia (PLWD). Caregivers play an integral role in supporting these patients, but what about their own acute care needs? Dr. Gettel is an emergency physicia...

Dr. Danya Khoujah joins GEMCast host Dr. Christina to dive into the first clinical practice guideline in the Geriatric Emergency Department (GED) Guidelines 2.0, which is dedicated to delirium. Delirium is a clinical syndrome characterised by acute and fluctuating disturbances of attention, awareness, perception or consciousness and it commonly affects older adults presenting to the ED. However, i...

In this GEMCast episode host Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. Meredith Busman, Director of Observation Medicine at Corewell Health West in Grand Rapids Michigan, Program Director for the Observation Medicine Fellowship at Emergency Care Specialists, and co-chair of the ACEP Accelerate Observation Medicine: Science and Solutions conference. Observation medicine is an outpatient service that en...

Dr. Stephen Gamboa is an Adjunct Associate Professor at UNC and medical director of UNC Health Pardee's emergency department in Hendersonville, North Carolina. In today’s GEMCast episode, he shares his first-hand experiences from two major natural disasters: the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California and Hurricane Helene, which hit Western North Carolina in 2024. As he joins host Dr. Christina She...

In this episode of GEMCast, Dr. Christina Shenvi sits down with Dr. Christina Prather, Director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at George Washington University, for a dynamic, coffee-style conversation about innovations and challenges in geriatric emergency care. They explore strategies for supporting older adults with dementia, preventing avoidable ED visits, and advancing patient-centered...

In this episode of GEMCast, host Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. James Van Oppen, emergency physician and frailty expert at the University of Sheffield, to discuss the rising importance of frailty in emergency medicine. Frailty, defined as the loss of physiological resilience, is both common and clinically significant for older adults presenting to the emergency department (ED). The two disc...

Climate change, and the associated increase in frequency and severity of heat waves, poses a threat to health. Amongst the most at risk for heat-related emergencies are older adults; age-associated physiologic vulnerabilities, chronic conditions, medications that disrupt thermoregulatory responses, and social determinants all contribute to an increased risk of heat-related illness in this populati...

Our population is aging, and with that comes an increase in the number of older adults in emergency departments. Delirium affects up to 1/3 older adults who present to the ED and is a medical emergency that is often overlooked by ED clinicians. In this episode of GEMCast host Dr. Christina Shenvi discusses the importance of recognising delirium, documenting it, and intervening where possible in th...

ED Boarding of Older Adults: Risks and Opportunities by Christina Shenvi

Getting ED Specific with Medication Safety by Christina Shenvi

In today’s episode host Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. Robert Sternberg, Ultrasound Director at Akron General to discuss ultrasound-guided nerve blocks for precise pain relief in older patients. Ultrasound-guided nerve blocks provide relief from one of the most common emergency department complaints: pain. In addition to their use in acute pain management, nerve blocks can help reduce the u...

Postmenopausal Problems - Geriatric Gynecology in the ED by Christina Shenvi

In this episode learn about how the Generational Health Program at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego was developed and expanded to create an extensive care program that provides specialised care for older adults. What started as a pilot program in 2019 is now a multidisciplinary age-friendly collaboration that begins right at admission.   Host Christina Shenvi is joined by 3 experts from Sharp...

Today’s episode provides an introduction and overview of the 5 domains of the CMS Age-Friendly Hospital Measure. Host Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. Marcia Russell to help clarify what each of these domains entail and how they may be carried out in the ED. They also discuss concerns that may be brought about following the implementation of this measure on January 1, 2025, and how these issu...

With the upcoming implementation of the new CMS age-friendly hospital measure, hospitals will be required to attest that they review medications to identify potentially inappropriate medications (PIMS) for older adults. Dr. Martin Casey, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UNC School of Medicine. Dr. Caseys’ work has focused on the identifying PIMS and find...

Dr. Cristina Shenvi is joined today by a panel to explore Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM) from a global perspective. As the global population ages, the importance of GEM and its continued development as a subspecialty becomes increasingly evident. This episode will examine the unique challenges that arise as GEM evolves and how different healthcare systems are adapting to meet these challenges....

Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins developing in the brain 20-30 years before symptoms start to present in patients. Recent evidence suggests that up to 40% of AD cases could potentially be prevented by addressing modifiable risk factors such as insufficient education, hearing loss, hypertension, obesity, smoking, depression, social isolation, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumpt...

Resuscitation of older adults in the emergency department poses unique challenges for physicians. Understanding the differences between a typical resuscitation process compared to a resuscitation of an older adult is essential to appropriately manage and treat this population. In this episode Dr. Cliff Reid joins Dr. Christina Shenvi to explore these differences and the associated challenges, and...

In 2021 constipation related visits to the ED reached over 1 million. The prevalence of constipation in elderly individuals in the community is between 15-30% and for those living in nursing homes or long-term care facilities it ranges between 50-75%. While constipation itself is not usually life-threatening, it can be indicative of life-threatening diseases or disorders and therefore a comprehens...

Dr. Christina Shenvi and Dr. Mike Craig discuss the "Home Hospital" model and its potential to transform the way we care for older adults, by bringing hospital-level care to patients' homes.

What ED Physicians need to know about Amyloid Targeting Treatments Part 1 by Christina Shenvi

What ED Physicians need to know about Amyloid Targeting Treatments Part 2 by Christina Shenvi

Join Dr. Christina Shenvi and Dr. Cameron Gettel as they talk about a paper that provides the first benchmarks for emergency care process outcomes in geriatric EDs compared with nongeriatric EDs.