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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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'Acopia'
— a useful term or not? | | Author(s) | John L Obeid, Susan J Ogle |
| Journal title | Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 19.4, November 2000 |
| Pages | pp 195-198 |
| Keywords | Self care capacity ; At risk ; Admission [hospitals] ; Accident & emergency depts ; Australia. |
| Annotation | The term "acopia", meaning inability to cope, is increasingly used by Australian hospital emergency departments to describe frail older patients. This raises concern with geriatricians that significant medical illnesses in older people are being misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed. In a retrospective audit of a New South Wales hospital's medical records from June 1996 to June 1998, 109 were assigned to the diagnosis of "acopia" in the emergency department; 64% were female. 100 patients aged 65+ were reviewed in detail; mean age was 80 ±10 years. The average number of medical diagnoses per patient was 8. Most patients were independent in activities of daily living (ADLs, 52%)) and were living in the community (74%) prior to becoming medically unwell. The main reasons for admission were the geriatric symptoms of gait disorder, falls, confusion and incontinence. Only 50% of these patients were able to return home; 25% required nursing home placement. The authors conclude that "acopia" is not a useful term, but the study highlights the need for ongoing training for emergency department staff in the recognition and management of patients with geriatric syndromes. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-010220206 A |
| Classmark | CA: CA3: LD:QKH: LD6: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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