Management of Demented Patients in Emergency Department

Table 1

The diseases that most often drive the elderly to apply for an urgent evaluation.

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Medical emergency

 Cardiovascular diseases (angina, heart failure, arrhythmias, syncope)

 Respiratory (acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pneumonia)

 Cancer (cancer of the lung, breast, large bowel)

 Neurological diseases (acute cerebrovascular disease, altered state of consciousness)

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Chirurgical emergency

 Trauma and fractures

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Clinical emergency

 Dehydration, urinary tract infections, intestinal sub-ileus, delirium, behavioral disturbances and subsequent guidance of therapeutic

 prescription

 Acute respiratory failure from respiratory infection, acute myocardial infarction, sepsis

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Clinical problems related to an incorrect home management

 Oversedation from psychopharmacological treatment, side effects from medications (iatrogenic hypotension, hypoglycemia jatrogena)

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