Media Releases and Opportunities

Researchers studying a vulnerable group of hospital patients colloquially known as 'social admissions' have found that health-care workers have differing ideas of what that means and who is responsible for caring for them.

Dr. Jasmine Mah, an internal medicine resident and PhD candidate at Dalhousie University, led the study that looked into how health-care staff view a group that largely consists of older adults who do not have acute medical issues, but end up in emergency departments because of a breakdown of supports.

Dr. Mah and her team interviewed nurses, physicians, administrators and social workers about their experiences with these patients at a Nova Scotia hospital from October 2022 to July 2023.

Their research, published recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that health-care providers believe these patients need enhanced care and became distressed after facing individual, institutional and system challenges in accessing it.

Dr. Mah is available to discuss the research and how examining perceptions of the people who care for these patients offers insights to guide clinicians and policymakers in caring for socially vulnerable patients.

                                                                                -30-

Media contact:

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Communications, Marketing and Creative Services
Dalhousie University 
Cell: 1-902-220-0491 
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca