Differences between "geriatric" and "medical" patients aged 75 and over.
We analysed the characteristics of patients aged 75 and over admitted to the geriatric and general medical wards over a three month period in a teaching hospital. Patients admitted to the geriatric wards were slightly older, were more often female, more likely to be admitted during the day and during a week day, more likely to have been seen by their own general practitioner, had more chronic and multiple illness with non-specific presentations, and stayed longer in hospital. Referring doctors seem to discriminate between patients needing geriatric care and those more suitable for general medical care, but there is an overlap in the characteristics of the two groups.
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Queen's University of Belfast.
M
M
Todd
V
V
Crawford
R W
RW
Stout
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009660:Northern Ireland; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors