Activities of daily living, cognitive function,risk for pressure scores, malnutrition and falls in elderlypatients readmitted to medical acute care
2014 (English)Conference paper, Poster (with or without abstract) (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Introduction: Being old and visiting acute care several times has been shown to be more than a medical problem. Aging individuals often have a vulnerable life situation, with physical frailty combined with mental disorders. It is important to assess and describe the elderly patients´ ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) and cognitive function in medical acute care.
Objectives: To describe ADL, cognitive function and risk for pressure sores, malnutrition and falls in elderly inpatients readmitted to acute care medical ward.
Design: A prospective cross-sectional study from acute medical ward (n= 60) in Örebro, Sweden. Data were collected during a period of four months.
Methods: The patients were assessed on one occasion by occupational therapist. ADL were assessed using the ADL-taxonomy. Cognitive function was assessed using the MMSE (n=48). Risk assessments for pressure sores, malnutrition and falls were assessed using the Senior alert register.
Results:Mean age was 84 years, mean hospital stay 5 days and the most common head-diagnosis heart failure. Most patients were independent in “Eating and Drinking”. When comparing ADL between patients (n=60) and another study (n=684) where the ADL taxonomy were used, showed that there was a significant difference in five of six activities. The assessments of cognitive function showed a higher incidence of cognitive impairment compared to other research. The patients also showed a higher risk for pressure sores and risk for falls compared with persons aged 75 to the Senior alert register.
Conclusion: There is of importance of earlier assessments of ADL, risk for falls, pressure scores and early detection of cognitive impairment for the elderly who are at risk for readmission to medical acute care. An early assessment is vital to allow interventions aimed to reducing inacitivity and avoid hospital stay.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014.
Keywords [en]
Older people, Readmission, ADL, Cognitive function, Pressure sores, Malnutrition, Falls
National Category
Health Sciences Occupational Therapy
Research subject
Occupational therapy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-71067OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-71067DiVA, id: diva2:1274628
Conference
16th International Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT), Yokohama, Japan, June 18-21, 2014
2019-01-022019-01-022024-03-04Bibliographically approved