Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
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To determine the use pattern of the emergency department by people 65 years of age and older. ⋯ Elderly persons do not misuse the services of the emergency department. They come because they are acutely ill; they are not frequent attenders, and their presenting complaints do require intervention (frequently hospitalization). The study findings are generalizable to the older population in the Hamilton-Wentworth region and raise such questions as whether some hospital admissions could have been avoided by earlier interventions in the community.