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FOLLOW‐UP STUDY ON PATIENTS DISCHARGED FROM A CHRONIC DISEASE HOSPITAL TO DOMICILIARY CARE DURING 1965 AND 1966
Author(s) -
WILSON MURIEL
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.tb02824.x
Subject(s) - medicine , life expectancy , pediatrics , rehabilitation , disease , emergency medicine , physical therapy , population , environmental health
Follow‐studies were conducted on unselected groups of patients discharged from a chronic disease hospital to private homes or to domiciliary facilities. Most of these patients were between the ages of 70 and 72. Reports are presented on 105 patients discharged in 1965 to such facilities—at the end of one year from the time of discharge, at the end of one and a half years, and at the end of two years. Additional data are presented regarding the main diagnosis and length of hospital stay in relation to results after one year in 75 patients discharged during the first eight months of 1966. The 1965 data indicate that 45 per cent of those discharged were still functioning adequately at the end of one year, 39 per cent after one and a half years, and 32 per cent after two years, with an additional percentage (18 per cent at one year, 15 per cent at one and a half years and 17 per cent at two years) showing minor or gross deterioration but still able to be maintained outside of a hospital. In view of the advanced age, the multiplicity of diseases and the average life expectancy of these aged patients, the results represent a reasonable degree of success in the rehabilitation of long‐term patients, and also tend to refute a common belief that the chronically ill geriatric patient will inevitably deteriorate rapidly after discharge from the hospital. The numbers of patients are too small for drawing definite conclusions, but may indicate areas worthy of further study.