Short summary

We initiated a new emergency department-based mobile acute care service seeking to move emergency care from the hospital to the nursing homes. The new mobile service is maintained by consultants from the emergency department who collaborate with the acute care team in the local municipality and the emergency dispatch centre. The aim of this study is to describe the new service, the population who receive emergency care at the nursing home, and the prognosis of the population.

Rationale

Each month, six percent of the Danish nursing home residents are admitted to a hospital, often because of infections or dehydration. Hospital admissions in this population increase the risk of several negative outcomes as delirium, hospital acquired infections, declined function level, and death. We speculated that alternative acute care solutions might reduce hospital admission rates and ambulance transfers among this population. We initiated a new emergency department-based mobile acute care service seeking to move emergency care from the hospital to the nursing homes.

The aim of this study is to describe the new service, the population who receive emergency care at the nursing home, and the prognosis of the population (readmission within 30 days and mortality within 30 days).

Description of the cohort

The new mobile service is maintained by consultants from the emergency department who collaborate with the acute care team in the local municipality and the emergency dispatch centre. The service is activated when acute ambulance transports to a nursing home in Odense Municipality are requested (112 calls as well as other acute requests). The team provide acute on-site evaluation and treatment to nursing home residents performed within nursing homes.

Data and biological material

The study is a descriptive study of the new services including descriptive and prognostic characteristics of the nursing home residents who received the service. Data are extracted from the patients' electronic hospital record at Odense University Hospital.

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Emergency Medicine, Odense University Hospital