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Grantee in News: Timothy Platts-Mills Discusses the Important Role Emergency Room Staff Places in Identifying Elder Abuse

On November 25, 2016, US News and World Reports/HealthDay featured 2014 COE Fellow Timothy Platts-Mills, PhD, on the important role the emergency department staff must play towards identifying elder abuse.
According to new research, ten percent of seniors suffer from elder abuser however, only 1 in every 7,700 emergency room visits for older adults, results in an elder abuse diagnosis.

Victims of elder abuse are less likely to receive routine care from a primary physician, so the emergency room department is often the only medical care they receive. According to new research, ten percent of seniors suffer from elder abuse, yet only 1 in every 7,700 emergency room staff effectively diagnoses an elder abuse case.

Due to this reality, Dr. Platts-Mills, emphasizes that emergency room physicians most get better at identifying elder abuse despite difficulties. He states, "It can be very difficult distinguishing whether a bruise is from a fall or physical abuse, or whether poor hygiene is a result of a patient asking to be left alone or the result of overt neglect on the part of a care provider, but those difficulties don't change the reality that elder abuse is common, takes a tremendous toll on its victims, and is frequently missed."

Dr. Timothy Platts-Mills is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina.

For more information on the risk factors associated with elder abuse, read AFAR Medical Officer, Richard Besdine’s Huffington Post 50 blog post. “Why Elder Abuse Is Everyone's Problem” here.

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