Key result
Following hospital discharge, the rate of readmission or death among elderly patients stabilized after 42 days at two readmissions every three weeks, defining a six-week critical period.
Why the study?
How long is it necessary to follow elderly patients discharged from a hospital into the community?
Cohort (n=101)
How long is it necessary to follow elderly patients discharged from a hospital into the community?
A six-week post-discharge critical period is identified for elderly patients, offering a clear interval for intensive case management to prevent readmission or death.
May support focused monitoring in the first six weeks post-discharge; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective confirmation before changing practice.
How long is it necessary to follow elderly patients discharged from a hospital into the community? The health outcome of 101 patients are monitored for one year. Survivor life tables describe the rate of patient failure to survive in the community, defined as readmission or death. After 42 days, this failure rate stabilizes at two readmissions every three weeks. From this data a six-week postdischarge critical period is defined and then compared to a 90-day post-admission criterion. The post-discharge rule is shorter, less affected by variability in hospitalization patterns, and offers a clear interval for intensive and integrated case management as well as a means of forecasting readmissions from the community.
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Fethke et al. (1991) conducted a cohort in Elderly patients discharged from a hospital (n=101). Hospital discharge was evaluated on Patient failure to survive in the community (readmission or death). Following hospital discharge, the rate of readmission or death among elderly patients stabilized after 42 days at two readmissions every three weeks, defining a six-week critical period.
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