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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Clinical characteristics of older adults admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit
— implications for resource allocation | | Author(s) | Rachel L Anderson, Susan K Schultz, Kathleen C Buckwalter |
| Journal title | Journal of Mental Health and Aging, vol 9 no 4, Winter 2003 |
| Pages | pp 211-222 |
| Keywords | Admission [hospitals] ; Psychogeriatric units ; Grant allocation ; Clinical surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Do patients' characteristics at admission distinguish those most likely to achieve positive clinical outcomes from those for whom hospital treatment would be of no benefit? This study assessed 267 people aged 60+ with psychiatric conditions, on their discharge from an inpatient psychiatric unit of a US general hospital. Clinical and background information was gathered from chart review. Service use and cost data were obtained from hospital information systems. About 60% of the patients presented with no safety risk and moderate or mild clinical symptoms. Length of stay did not vary along clinical need, degree of improvement, receipt of a behavioural intervention, or demographic variables. Most patients stayed longer than the Medicare reimbursed length of stay, resulting in a negative operating margin. Findings suggest that not all those admitted to impatient care presented with clinical symptoms consistent with a need for this level of service intensity. Findings highlight the importance of guidelines as a critical factor to assist level-of-care decision-making and the importance of defining appropriate efficiency measures for geriatric patients. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040720209 A |
| Classmark | LD:QKH: LDM: QCG: 3G: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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