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Metas de Enfermería

Metas de Enfermería

MAYO 2012 N° 4 Volumen 15

Assessment of the dependency level of elderly patients following hospitalization

Section: Featured Articles

How to quote

Sahagún Olea M et ál. Valoración del nivel de dependencia en pacientes ancianos tras un ingreso hospitalario. Metas de Enferm may 2012; 15(4): 8-12

Authors

1Marta Sahagún Olea, 2Cristina Cuadrado Rodríguez, 2Nuria Mate Mate, 2Julia Calderón López, 2Rosa Isabel Fernández-Paniagua Toval, 2Ana María Olmos Sancho, 2Matilde Tribiño Fernández, 2Desiré Rodríguez Pérez, 2Julio César Platón Alonso, 2Ana Isabel Aguado de la Fuente, 3Rosa Conde Vicente

Position

1Enfermera de la Unidad de Hospitalización 4.0. Medicina Interna del Hospital Río Hortega de Valladolid. Profesora asociada de la Escuela Universitaria de Enfermería de Valladolid.2Enfermera de la Unidad de Hospitalización 4.0. Medicina Interna del Hospital Río Hortega de Valladolid.3Enfermera. Unidad de apoyo a la investigación Río Hortega. Centro de Investigación de Endocrinología y Nutrición de la Universidad de Valladolid.

Contact address

Marta Sahagún Olea. Hospital Universitario Río Hortega. C/ Dulzaina, 2. 47012 Valladolid.

Contact email: sahagunmarta@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to assess the existence of dependency changes in the elderly­ after hospitalization in an Internal Medicine department and to analyze its relationship with key socio-demographic characteristics of these patients.
Material and methods: observational, longitudinal, descriptive study
(february 2010-july 2010) with measurements taken using the test of Barthel at admission and at discharge. The sample was selected using non-probability sampling, of consecutive case series. On admission varia­bles included were age, sex, address, health center, date of admission, number of admissions in the last year and their duration, habitual residence, social risk, reason for admission and the first test of Barthel. At discharge the date, the place where elderly patient is returning to, social risk, whether or not to submit a nursing discharge report (for conti­nuity of care purposes) and the second test of Barthel were all recorded.
Results: 318 cases were analyzed on admission, of which discharge data were obtained in 157 patients (49,3%). Mean stay was nine days with an interquartile range of 5,5 to 15,0 days. The group analyzed at discharge showed similar characteristics to the original group, and can therefore be considered representative of it. We included 86 women (54,8%) and 71 men (45,2%), with an overall mean age of 72,5 ± 17,5 years. The difference between the Barthel test at discharge and the Barthel tests at admission had a mean of 0,9 ± 18,6. There were 42 patients who improved (26,7%), 89 who remained stable (56,7%) and 26 whose scores worsened (16,6%). The multimorbidity of the elderly that causes a high number of hospital admissions is key to the interpretation of this outcome.
Conclusions: a significant loss of dependency, and hence of quality of life, cannot be demonstrated in our elderly patients subjected to hospitalization.

Keywords:

Barthel test; basic activities of daily living; dependency; elderly patients; hospitalizationquality of life

Versión en Español

Título:

Valoración del nivel de dependencia en pacientes ancianos tras un ingreso hospitalario