Upgrading services in the small extended care facility.
The Extended Care Facility (ECF) has become an important part of the community's provision of health care for the aged. Appropriate services must be available for long-term, intermediate, skilled, and short-term medical care. This report describes a small ECF (180 patients) rendering these needed services for the elderly. A limited operating budget, a shortage of physicians, and demand for an increase in the patient-load are some of the typical problems. In order that the important services can be rendered properly to the aged patients, participation by all the medical disciplines is essential. (The role of the Physical Therapy Department is discussed.) To upgrade services effectively, the interdisciplinary approach must involve a dual responsibility, i.e., the individual effort of the single discipline plus the group cooperative effort of all areas concerned.
D000368:Aged; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D009516:New Mexico; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities