PATIENT SAFETY FACT SHEET OLDER ADULTS

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• Safety, equity, and person-centered care have long been core aspirations in our industry. Yet even as we deepen our commitment to these principles, one reality stays largely in the background: Older patients are at a disproportionate risk of harm. And too often, we simply don’t see it—or act on it as urgently as we should.​ 2025  Read more here

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• The Vital Role of Patient Safety Organizations in Senior Care   2024  Read more here

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• Why aging loved ones are more susceptible to injury at home. Read more here

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• Almost one-third of all Medicare patients — nearly 12 million people — were prescribed opioid painkillers by their physicians in 2015. That same year, 2.7 million Americans over age 50 abused painkillers, meaning they took them for reasons or in amounts beyond what their doctors prescribed. https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2017/opioid-drug-addiction-pain-pills.html

 

• Many medical doctors misdiagnose and mistreat delirium. At the same time they contribute to increasing its frequency by prescribing drugs that are some of the precipitating and aggravating factors in older persons, in whom cognition is their most vulnerable function. https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/11/01/delirium-common-cause-misdiagnosis-elderly

 

• Medical illnesses are too often misdiagnosed or wrongfully labeled as purely psychiatric illnesses. Based on that data, one out of three older patients may actually need medical care versus behavioral health care. http://careforyourmind.org/older-adults-are-being-overlooked-when-it-comes-to-mental-health-care/ 

 

• Approximately half of the 1.6 million nursing home residents in the United States fall each year, nearly 10% of Medicare skilled nursing facility residents experienced a fall resulting in significant injury.  https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/40/Falls 

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Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education and Advocacy (CPSEA) is dedicated to raising awareness about patient safety through education, advocacy, and support.

We envision a world in which the patient's voice is heard and no one is harmed by healthcare.