Results of a rehabilitation program for geriatric patients in county hospitals.

Abstract

A geriatric rehabilitation project was carried out at 4 county hospitals. Patients in 3 served as an experimental population; those in the fourth, as a control group. All patients received comprehensive evaluations; the experimental population was given physical rehabilitation and social and vocational activites. Approximately one-third required intensive rehabilitation; another third, nursing care; and the remainder, supervised, homelike living arrangements. After treatment, 34% of the experimental population—compared with 5% of the control population—showed significant improvement in functional abilities. Two-thirds of those requiring intensive rehabilitation showed such improvement. In one year, over 20% of the experimental group— but less than 5% of the control group— was discharged. Almost all were patients who had been expected to require permanent institutional care. At one hospital, subsequent savings in welfare funds more than covered the cost of rehabilitation and discharge programs.