Acute hospital admissions from nursing homes: some may be avoidable

Abstract

A retrospective survey of acute hospital admissions from nursing homes over a year to a district hospital revealed high overall hospital admission rates and wide variations of admission rates from similar homes. Medical admissions dominated, infections and poorly controlled heart failure being notably common. A significant proportion of admissions may have been avoided by active chronic disease management, together with better information for doctors responding to emergency calls and specialist support programmes facilitating in situ treatment.