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Posted on Sep 30, 2002, 5 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Dr. Terri R. Fried and colleagues at the Yale University School of Medicine studied seniors' preferences for residing at home or in hospital during treatment for an acute illness such as heart failure or pneumonia, and found that seniors are about evenly split between choosing to go to the hospital versus home treatment for an acute illness.
Dr. Terri R. Fried and colleagues at the Yale University School of Medicine studied seniors' preferences for residing at home or in hospital during treatment for an acute illness such as heart failure or pneumonia, and found that seniors are about evenly split between choosing to go to the hospital versus home treatment for an acute illness. Sightly more than half of the 246 patients involved in the study (54%) said they would rather stay in hospital. Preferences were dependent on the outcome of the illness, physician opinion about the best site of care, and whether or not doctors would make house calls if the patient did select home as the place to recover. Only 9% of patients who initially preferred home would still want to go home if their chances of recovery were higher in the hospital, and only 12% still wanted to go home if their doctor thought the hospital would be better for them. People who stated a preference for a hospital-based treatment were not likely to change their choice, even if other factors changed. Researchers encourage offering patients the ability to choose their follow-up care preference.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Archives of Internal Medicine 2000;160:1501-1506
