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RETURNING THE GERIATRIC VETERAN TO THE COMMUNITY FROM A NEUROPSYCHIATRY HOSPITAL
Author(s) -
JUSTICE VERNELL O.,
BENDER DARYL
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1968.tb00747.x
Subject(s) - medicine , nursing homes , geriatrics , gerontology , neuropsychiatry , general hospital , unit (ring theory) , psychiatry , family medicine , nursing , mathematics education , mathematics
Abstract: The results of this pilot study indicate that the characteristics of 107 elderly (mostly psychiatric) patients released from the Geriatric Unit of a Veterans Administration Hospital did not differ significantly from those of most other older patients found in nursing homes. Age, diagnosis, and length of stay in the hospital proved not to be important factors in selecting the patients who should be released or in determining their adjustment potential. Of the 107 patients, 69 (64 per cent) had incomes of $200 or less per month. Re‐education of the families and the public in general may permit more veterans to return to their own homes or to live with relatives. An increase and/or extension in the veteran's benefits may be far less costly than maintaining him in the hospital when he requires only custodial or nursing care. There is a need for more intermediate‐care facilities, such as sheltered‐care homes and homes for the aged, to accommodate these veterans.