Frequency and determinants of urgent requests to home care agencies for community-dwelling elderly.
We analyzed a one-year case series and performed a longitudinal (4 month) cohort analysis of urgent requests made to home care agencies by and for their > or = 65 years old clients in order to estimate the frequency of unscheduled services delivered by home care agencies and to identify risk factors. All 40 home care agencies located in a Swiss region were included in the study and we registered 3,816 urgent requests (75/1,000 > or = 65 years residents per year). Among home care users, the presence of a urinary catheter, incontinence and the need for assistance in bathing were predictors of unscheduled services. Resources should be planned in order to help home care teams to handle unexpected, disruptive clusters of urgent requests that may compromise their scheduled activities.
Health services research unit, Institut universitaire de médecine sociale et préventive, Rue du Bugnon 17, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland. Brigitte.Santos-Eggimann@inst.hospvd.ch
Brigitte
B
Santos-Eggimann
Nicole Chavaz
NC
Cirilli
Jean-Jacques
JJ
Monachon
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D018574:Home Care Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D014600:Utilization Review