Assessment and management of hypotension in the elderly patient

Introduction: Elderly patients often present to the emergency department (ED) with nonspecific signs of infection and excessive fluid loss, with limited research into their management. The purpose of this audit was to assess the initial management of hypotensive elderly patients in the ED: observations within 15 min, fluid challenge within 1 h, time to assessment by a physician, and initial management of septic shock. Subjects and Methods: Online patient systems were reviewed to find 40 patients >65 years old who were hypotensive (systolic blood pressure <100 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure