BACKGROUND: Short stay units provide brief hospitalisation for patients with minor medical ailments, to reduce the need for acute medical admissions and improve flexibility in ED services. However, predicting who in a complex geriatric population would be appropriate is difficult.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics that are predictive of a successful discharge from a short stay admission versus requiring a full medical admission in a geriatric population.
METHODS: This was a retrospective case-control study conducted in a tertiary hospital between 2020 an 2021, examining characteristics of adults older than 75 years of age, or over 55 years of age if Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, presenting to the Emergency Department, that were successfully discharged from a short stay unit as compared to those who required a medical admission. Demographic, administrative and medical factors of 122 patients who were successfully discharged were compared to 167 patients who required medical admission.
RESULTS: Initial data examined 289 patients. Factors that were associated with lower odds of discharge from short stay included increasing age (OR 0.95 [95%CI]), more medications (OR 0.93) and higher Clinical Frailty Score (OR 0.75). A higher Lawton Scale was associated with higher odds of discharge (OR 1.21), while the Barthel Index, hospital presentation in the last 30 days and number of presentations in the last year were not significant.
CONCLUSIONS: There are various factors that may help predict which geriatric patients are more likely to have a successful discharge from short stay.