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Older people
Research priorities for prehospital older adult care
Research and Knowledge Translation Priorities for the Prehospital Care of Older Adults: A Modified Delphi Study
Prehospital Emergency Care · Added 25 August 2026
Modified Delphi study identified five high-priority research themes for older adult prehospital care, with falls assessment, prevention, and clinician training ranking highest across research and knowledge translation domains.
- Study type
- Other
- Design
- Modified Delphi study with multidisciplinary stakeholder panel
- Participants
- 28 stakeholders (EMS clinicians, geriatricians, medical directors, educators and others)
- Main finding
- 145 candidate priorities consolidated into 30 themes; 17 advanced to final ranking; five high-priority, high-consensus topics identified in both research and knowledge translation domains, four shared, centring on assessment after perceived low-acuity falls, fall prevention, clinician training, and assessment tools
- Caveat
- Consensus priorities reflect stakeholder opinion, not evidence of effect, and likely reflect the participating health system
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). transferability — Older adults represent growing EMS demographic — findings should guide research and practice priorities for this population
Learning goal
Understand how evidence gaps in prehospital older adult care shape my assessment of falls presented as low acuity.
More
- Topic: Older people
- Daily scan: 25 August 2026
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