title: Which Aged Care inpatients are potentially suitable for community-based acute care?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify Aged Care inpatients potentially suitable for Acute/Post-Acute Care (APAC)-Aged Care, a new service offering community-based acute care as an alternative to hospital admission for frail older people.
  
  
  METHODS
  Criteria were developed to identify suitable patients for APAC-Aged Care and applied to consecutive Aged Care inpatient admissions at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia, through retrospective chart review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 5/90 reviewed patients were potentially suitable for APAC-Aged Care. All five were from Residential Aged Care Facilities. The median age of the 90 patients was 86 years; 30% lived in Residential Aged Care Facilities; 53% of patients were medically stable on presentation; 70% required investigations beyond a standard baseline set; 27% had either no new functional decline on presentation or adequate community support to manage this; 91% had allied health input and 41% had medical/surgical consultation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  APAC-Aged Care is a potentially suitable alternative to acute inpatient hospitalisation in a select minority of Aged Care patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aged Care and Rehabilitation, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. robynm@med.usyd.edu.au
authors.forename: Robyn M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ogle
authors.forename: Terence P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Finnegan
authors.forename: Sarah N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Hilmer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003153:Community Health Services; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies