In the cen­tral emer­gen­cy depart­ment of the Frank­furt Oder cli­nic, a spe­cial area has been dedi­ca­ted to seni­or citi­zens only: the Elder­­ly-Unit. Inde­ed, health­ca­re for elder­ly peo­p­le, just like for new­borns, has to be con­side­red sepa­ra­te­ly. Seni­ors might often feel unwell and have a poor gene­ral sta­te of health but they can­not say exact­ly what is wrong with them. It is dif­fi­cult to deter­mi­ne pre­cis­e­ly the cau­ses for their dis­com­fort, becau­se in most cases the sym­ptoms of seve­ral dise­a­ses might be inter­re­la­ted. Moreo­ver, the sym­ptoms felt by seni­ors are dif­fe­rent from tho­se of youn­ger people.

In order to obtain addi­tio­nal objec­ti­ve infor­ma­ti­on on emer­gen­cy pati­ents’ sta­te of health, the Frank­furt Oder Cli­nic has been recor­ding the gait pat­tern of some seni­ors sin­ce 2017 as part of the initi­al exami­na­ti­on. “We have found some asto­nis­hing con­nec­tions,” explains Petra Wil­ke, initia­tor of the pro­ject and Chief Phy­si­ci­an (now emer­gen­cy medi­ci­ne Havel­land cli­nics), “for exam­p­le that many old pati­ents suf­fer from balan­ce dis­or­ders when they have a uri­na­ry tract infec­tion. The same appli­es to hypo­na­tre­mia, when the­re is too litt­le sodium in the blood. This has simi­lar effects on the gait pat­tern as an alco­hol level of 0,6 per mill in young people.”

Tho­se are inte­res­t­ing cor­re­la­ti­ons, that can help in the future to reco­g­ni­se and tre­at dise­a­ses more quick­ly in the emer­gen­cy room.

But the hos­pi­tal staff does not only use Sen­s­Flo­or® Gait as a sup­port for dia­gno­sis. The tre­at­ment suc­cess and posi­ti­ve effects on the gait pat­tern can also be docu­men­ted quick­ly and pre­cis­e­ly via a before/after recording.