2019 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 14-18
The objective of this study was to elucidate the discharge destination of patients admitted to community comprehensive care wards and related factors as part of measures in such wards to support return to residential care. Subjects were 485 patients who were admitted to and discharged from community comprehensive care wards at hospitals A and B in the Kyushu region. The patients' age, sex, place of residence before admission, purpose and length of admission, level of need for nursing care at admission and discharge (items A and B), and discharge destination were investigated, and the factors related to discharge destination were identified. Patients whose discharge destination was their home or a residential care facility were classified as group I, and those whose discharge destination was a facility other than those indicated for group I were classified as group II. Patients who died during hospitalization were classified as group III. Patients in the community comprehensive care ward of hospital A (“a-ward patients” below) were classified to groups I to III, and patients in the community comprehensive care ward of hospital B (“b-ward patients” below) were classified to groups I and II. Among a-ward patients, the oldest was in group III, and the length of hospitalization was longest in group II. Scores for item A, the level of need for nursing care, were highest in group III at both admission and discharge. Scores for item B, the level of need for nursing care, were also highest in group III at both admission and discharge. Among b-ward patients, the length of hospitalization was longer in group II than in group I. The level of need for nursing care was also higher in group II than in group I at both admission and discharge. Relationships were observed between discharge destination and patient age, length of hospitalization, and level of need for nursing care, suggesting that these may be factors that influence whether a patient is discharged to residential care.
