title: Does admission to a specialist geriatric medicine ward lead to improvements in aspects of acute medical care for older patients with dementia?
abstract: The objective of this study is to clarify if admission to a specialist geriatric medicine ward leads to improvements in aspects of acute medical care for patients with dementia.
  
  
  
  We analysed combined data involving 900 patients from the Irish and Northern Irish audits of dementia care. Data on baseline demographics, admission outcomes, clinical aspects of care, multidisciplinary assessment and discharge planning processes were collected.
  
  
  
  Less than one-fifth of patients received their inpatient care on a specialist geriatric medicine ward. Patients admitted to a geriatric medicine ward were less likely to undergo a formal assessment of mobility compared with those in non-geriatric wards (119/143 (83%) vs 635/708 (90%), odds ratio (OR) = 0.57 (0.35 to 0.94)) and were more likely to receive newly prescribed antipsychotic medication during the admission (27/54 (50%) vs 95/2809 (36%), OR = 1.95 (1.08 to 3.51)). Patients admitted to a geriatric medicine ward were more likely to have certain aspects of discharge planning initiated, including completion of a single plan for discharge (78/118 (66%) vs 275/611 (45%), OR = 2.38 (1.58 to 3.60)). Surgical wards performed more poorly on certain aspects including having a named discharge co-ordinator (32/71, 45%) and documentation of decisions regarding resuscitation status (18/95, 19%).
  
  
  
  Relatively low numbers of patients with dementia received care on a specialist geriatric medicine ward. There appears to be a more streamlined discharge planning process in place on these wards, but they did not perform as well as one would expect in certain areas, such as compliance with multidisciplinary assessment and antipsychotic prescribing. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.affiliation: Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.affiliation: Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Siún
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.|Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Desmond
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.affiliation: Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.|Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.affiliation: Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.|Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Timmons
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ageing, Neuroscience and the Humanities, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.|Irish National Audit of Dementia Care in Acute Hospitals, National Audit of Dementia Care, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kennelly
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: acute care; dementia; geriatric medicine