The number of elderly people after an acute hospitalization dies at home, can significantly reduced. As particularly vulnerable given over 80 after-care of a nurse, mortality fell by a quarter.
Without aftercare dies thirty percent of these patients within one hundred days. Still, many older people who receive aftercare not, says Professor of geriatric medicine Sophia de Rooij UMC Groningen in Trouw. Less than a third of the Dutch hospitals is working with the district nursing. The other patients sent home with the message that they can call if they have any questions.
From a large study that De Rooij did with its AMC colleague Bianca Buurman among 674 elderly people who had been admitted with an acute condition in hospital, shows that many patients return home bewildered.
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For the study, half of which was sent home in the usual way and the other half received a home nurse support. Who took them to the hospital, brought them home and then visited them twice. During such visits, looked at how the elderly it was ready, the medication was checked and if necessary, GPs, specialists, home care and caregiving enabled.
Thanks to the continued follow-up these patients live longer. "If the home nurse visits sixteen elderly, it prevents one death," De Rooij said in the newspaper. The costs come out at about 180 euros per patient; the cost of the nurse. An inexpensive way to prevent premature deaths, says the doctor.
The collaboration is part of the National Programme for Elderly Care. De Rooij expects more hospitals are going to do this now scientifically proven that after-care saves lives.
Source: http://nos.nl/ Photo: Reuters
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