Does Age Bias Impact Treatment?

Ivanhoe Newswire

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Elderly trauma patients may not be getting the care they need.

A new study finds elderly trauma patients are less likely than younger patients to be transported to a trauma center, possibly because of an unconscious age bias among emergency medical services (EMS) staff.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine looked at 10 years of data from the statewide Maryland Ambulance Information System. They also surveyed EMS and trauma center personnel.

The study found that patients 65 years or older were 52 percent less likely to be transported to a trauma center.

Almost 170 people including 127 EMS personnel and 32 medical employees responded to the follow-up surveys. When they were asked about the most likely reasons for not transporting elderly patients to trauma centers, their top three answers were inadequate training for managing elderly patients, unfamiliarity with protocol and possible age bias.

"A focus on retraining the providers about triage protocols may be sufficient," the authors conclude. "Additionally, it may be helpful to highlight the literature that now suggests that elderly trauma patients do, in fact, return to productive lives after their injury, which can eliminate the perception of futility of care that may be used consciously or subconsciously to justify age bias."