Geriatric Education and Its Effect on Certain Aspects of Hospital Care of Nursing Home Patients

Context: Nursing home patients admitted to the hospital pose a significant challenge for health care providers. Geriatric age, frailty, multiple readmissions, prolonged length of stay, and high mortality are just a few attributes of nursing home patients in the hospital. Geriatric teaching pays particular attention to these challenging problems. However, it is yet to be proven, whether geriatric training helps to overcome any of these issues in a better way than through non-geriatric education.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that geriatric care provides advantages over non-geriatric training in caring for nursing home patients admitted to the hospital in regards to length of stay, rate of expirations and rate of readmissions. The secondary objective is to compare expirations and readmissions among patients cared for by geriatricians and non-geriatricians.

Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective cohort study of patients admitted from Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Nursing Home (MJGNH) to Maimonides Medical Center (MMC) over a certain period of time and under the care of geriatricians, non-geriatric internists, and surgeons. Comparison of the three study groups by age, sex, expiration rate, length of hospital stay (LOS) and readmission rate. Comparison of expired patients by age, sex and average LOS. Comparison of readmissions, expiration rate, by preservation of continuity of care, and by emergency room visits without admission.