title: Characteristics of geriatric admissions to two medical departments in Singapore.
abstract: A survey was conducted to study certain characteristics of geriatric patients admitted to two medical departments in Singapore. The aim was to create awareness as well as to provide a better understanding of these elderly as more and more doctors would have to attend to them. Our results show that about 27% of admissions were geriatric patients. The typical geriatric patient in this study was about 75 years old (mean age 74.6 years) and was likely to present with breathlessness due to heart disease or pneumonia. The overall duration of stay in hospital was 10 days and only about 6% of the patients had "discharge" problems needing assistance from the Medical Social Worker. About one in five patients died in hospital, usually from pneumonia or ischaemic heart disease.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Ee
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rajasoorya
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Jayaratnam
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012846:Singapore