Improved outcomes for elderly patients who received care on a transitional care unit.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether providing elderly alternate level of care (ALC) patients with interdisciplinary care on a transitional care unit (TCU) achieves better clinical outcomes and lowers costs compared with providing them with standard hospital care.


METHODS
Before-and-after structured retrospective chart audit.


METHODS
St Joseph's Hospital in Comox, BC.


METHODS
One hundred thirty-five consecutively admitted patients aged 70 years and older with ALC designation during 5-month periods before (n = 49) and after (n = 86) the opening of an on-site TCU.


METHODS
Length of stay, discharge disposition, complications of the acute and ALC portions of the patients' hospital stays, activities of daily living (mobility, transfers, and urinary continence), psychotropic medications and vitamin D prescriptions, and ALC patient care costs, as well as annual hospital savings, were examined.


RESULTS
Among the 86 ALC patients receiving care during the postintervention period, 57 (66%) were admitted to the TCU; 29 of the 86 (34%) patients in the postintervention group received standard care (SC). All 86 ALC patients in the postintervention group were compared with the 49 preintervention ALC patients who received SC. Length of stay reduction occurred among the postintervention group during the acute portion of the hospital stay (14.0 days postintervention group vs 22.5 days preintervention group; P < .01). Discharge home or to an assisted-living facility increased among the postintervention group (30% postintervention group vs 12% preintervention group; P < .01). Patients' ability to transfer improved among the postintervention group (55% postintervention group vs 14% preintervention group; P < .01). At discharge, 48% of ALC patients in the postintervention group were able to transfer independently compared with 17% of ALC patients in the preintervention group. Hospital-acquired infections among the postintervention group decreased during the acute phase (14% postintervention group vs 33% preintervention group; P < .01) and in the ALC phase of hospital stay (16% postintervention group vs 31% preintervention group; P = .011). Antipsychotic prescriptions decreased among the postintervention group (45% postintervention group vs 66% preintervention group; P = .026). Despite greater use of rehabilitation services, TCU costs per patient were lower ($155/d postintervention period vs $273/d preintervention period).


CONCLUSIONS
Elderly ALC patients experienced improvements in health and function at reduced cost after the creation of an interdisciplinary TCU, to which most of the nonpalliative ALC patients were transferred. Although all the postintervention ALC patients (those admitted to the TCU and those who received SC) were analyzed together, it is very likely that the greatest gains were made in the ALC patients who received care in the TCU.
Care of the elderly physician and Medical Co-director in the Transitional Care Unit at St Joseph's Hospital in Comox, BC, and a Clinical Scholar in the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. manwale@shaw.ca.
Margaret
M
Manville
Emeritus Professor of family practice and pediatrics and Director of the Clinician Scholar Program in the Department of Family Practice at UBC.
Michael C
MC
Klein
Director of Interprofessional Education in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC.
Lesley
L
Bainbridge
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001955:British Columbia; D017046:Cost Savings; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000191:economics; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D012189:Retrospective Studies