Preventing Emergency Department Visits by Identifying People with Unrecognized Dementia

Award Date: 2016

Project Lead(s): Dr. Jacques Lee

Project Title: Preventing Emergency Department Visits by Identifying People with Unrecognized Dementia

Patients with dementia are frequently discharged from the ER without diagnosing the fact that they have an underlying cognitive impairment. This greatly increases the chance of a return visit. Ideally, all older adults visiting the ER for dementia would be screened. However, due to time and resource constraints, this is not feasible. Dr. Lee and his team have developed a prototype application that employs “serious gaming” techniques on a tablet computer that allows patients to perform a self-assessment that accurately indicates a dementia diagnosis to clinicians. This Spark project will focus on refining and expanding the functionality of the application, as well as test its effectiveness to reduce crowding in ERs through the avoidance of unnecessary repeat visits from patients with dementia.