UAB opens geriatric unit at Highlands hospital

[Patrick]

UAB opens geriatric unit at Highlands hospital

Monday, February 02, 2009
DAVE PARKS News staff writer

UAB has opened a geriatric unit at its Highlands hospital to provide specialized services to patients 65 and older.

The Acute Care for Elders, or ACE unit, will be staffed with specially trained nurses and offer a team approach that includes daily assessments by geriatricians and other health care professionals. It has a capacity for 20 patients.

"Treating an older adult who now requires hospitalization presents complications and challenges not seen in a younger population," said Dr. Kellie L. Flood, a geriatrician and medical director of the new ACE unit. "We try to address those kind of things."

Normally, a patient being admitted to UAB Highlands would be put under the care of a hospitalist, a physician who practices exclusively in hospitals. But in addition to getting a hospitalist, patients 65 and older coming to Highlands will also receive geriatric services, Flood said.

The hospitalist will treat the patients for their primary problems, while a team made up a geriatrician and other health professionals involved in patient care will meet daily to address geriatric needs, Flood said.

Geriatric patients often face a multitude of chronic health problems in addition to an acute illness, she said. Memory loss, depression and the use of multiple medications are all common complications among older patients. All these issues must be addressed along with the health problem that led to the patient's hospitalization, Flood said.

Patients on the ACE unit will be evaluated to see how they were doing before their acute illness.

"Our goal is to get them back to that level," Flood said.

The unit also provides social services, palliative care, pet therapy from Hand-in-Paw and access to the SPOONS program, which uses volunteers to provide companionship and help patients eat. Music and art therapy are being planned for the unit, too, Flood said.

"It's been said that nowhere is the practice of medicine more art than science than in the care of older adults," she said.

E-mail: dparks@bhamnews.com

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