PhD-student
Julie Elkjær Rødsgaard Jakobsen
Emergency Department Odense University Hospital
| Project management | ||
| Project status | Open | |
| Data collection dates | ||
| Start | 01.03.2024 | |
| End | 28.02.2027 | |
Emergency care for nursing home residents - and possibilities for improvement
Short summary
Nursing home residents represents a frail patient group. The purpose of this study is from a quantitative perspective to describe factors related to emergency care needs and response to nursing home residents.
Rationale
In Denmark 6/100 nursing home residents go to hospital every month - most of these hospital contacts are acute. The challenges which face nursing home residents, relatives, nursing home staff, out of hours doctors and ambulance staff are significant, when a resident has an acute event. The risk of an acute hospital contact is high although it is not always the best solution for a resident who might or might not be close to end of life. Most Nursing home residents are frail, in the last part of their life, and with a high burden of comorbidities. One-third of the persons who move to a nursing home have a stay of less than one year. Among Danish persons over 65 years, 3.3 percent live in a nursing home. Admissions from nursing homes are primarily caused by infections, falls, dehydration, respiratory diseases, and circulatory diseases. Unfortunately, hospital admissions within this vulnerable population are associated with an increased risk of delirium, hospital-acquired infections, functional disability, and mortality. Given these potential complications, acute hospital admissions might not always represent the best patient-centered solution when nursing home residents need emergency care. This study aims to investigate the use of acute ambulance transport and hospitalizations among nursing home residents. What is the incidence and variation of acute ambulance transport and acute hospitalization related to municipalities, nursing homes, time of day, and time of week.
Description of the cohort
All nursing home residents in Denmark between 1/1 2018 and 31/12 2022, approximately 114.000 individuals.
Data and biological material
A population-based register-based cohort study. At the individual level, data from the nursing home register in The Danish Health Data Authority is merged with data for all acute ambulance transports in Denmark, the National Patient Registry, and the Civil Registration Registry.