title: [Elderly in an acute geriatric unit].
abstract: Although the implementation of acute geriatric units (AGUs) in general hospitals has a grade A of evidency, in Spain, only 12% of them have this resource. The estimation of geriatric especializad beds for the care of acute frail elderly people is of 2.6/1000 inhabitants older than 75 years. AGUs have demonstrated to reduce the functional loss associated with the hospitalization and to increase the percentage of older people that can return home, without increases in mortality nor costs. In this review we present the characteristics of patients who benefit from AGUs, the services offered, the structure and functioning of the unit, the role of the professionals that work in it and the quality indicators that must be acomplished.
authors.affiliation: Sección de Geriatría, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete, Albacete, España.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Romero Rizos
authors.forename: Pedro Manuel
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Sánchez Jurado
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abizanda Soler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005853:Geriatrics; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D013030:Spain