The Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine (AGEM) has chosen to spotlight the work of Gwen Gosta Jacobsohn, PhD, MA for its October Author Spotlight for her important work in geriatric emergency medicine research, particularly her recently published article “Effectiveness of a care transitions intervention for older adults discharged home from the emergency department: A randomized controlled trial.” View the Author Spotlight.
Scholarly Article Summary: This is an article reporting a randomized control trial at 3 urban academic emergency departments to determine if improving care transitions following ED visits may reduce post-ED adverse events among older adults. The Care Transitions Intervention (CTI) has shown improvement in hospital-to-home transitions. 1,756 older adults were randomized to usual care in the ED versus a minimally modified CTI which consists of a home visit 24 -72 hours post discharge and one to three phone calls over 28 days. Compared with usual care participants, the intervention patients did not have a reduced 30-day ED revisit but did significantly increase key care transition behaviors (outpatient follow-up, red flag knowledge).
Gwen Costa Jacobsohn is a Scientist with the Aging Research Group and Research Services Core in the University of Wisconsin BerbeeWalsh Deptartment of Emergency Medicine. She holds a PhD in Health Communication and a Master’s in Organizational/Small Group Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was also a Primary Care Research Fellow in the UW-Madison Department of Family Medicine & Community Health and an AHEAD Scholar (Advancing Health Equity and Diversity) at the UW Collaborative Center for Health Equity. She has conducted mixed-methods studies in specialty, primary, and acute care environments, involving patients, family caregivers, healthcare providers, clinic administrators, and community members. Since moving to Emergency Medicine, her focus has been on the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to improve care for older adult patients and their caregivers both during and following ED visits.
AGEM is an academy of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM).