Pre-admission Assessment of Elderly Applicants to Long-term Care

Sub-title
AuthorsJoseph Dimech MD, Mger
A Fiorini MD, FRCP (Lond)
AbstractAim: to identify whether pre-admission assessment of elderly applicants could be an effective means of identifying actual need for long term care Methods: 105 applicants to long term care were assessed at source for suitability for admission. Assessment instruments used were OARS and CAPE. All subjects were followed up after 3 months to assess actual outcome. Findings: Assessment findings showed that of the study group (n=105), 22% could remain in the community, 21% could benefit from hospital care / rehabilitation and 57% required institutionalisation. Unmet need was identified in applicants in the community (n=40) for home help, day care, social worker, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and community nursing. Conclusion: Pre-admission assessment appropriately identifies the actual needs of applicants to long-term care and prevents inappropriate admission.

Published in:
JournalMalta Medical Journal
Volume15 Issue 02
Pages28 - 30
Date01/11/2003
Link to journal

Key wordsadmission, assessment, elderly, long term residence

Compiled by: Dr. I. Stabile    Dr. J. Pace