[Domiciliary geriatric care: 20 months' experience]

Geriatric home care (GHC) can help elderly patients by providing comprehensive health care and avoiding prolonged hospital admissions. In this article we discuss our experience in this field. METHODS. From February 1990 to October 1991, 171 elderly patients have been followed periodically at their homes by our GHC team, formed by two geriatricians, a nurse, a social worker, an occupational therapist and a driver. RESULTS. Our patients were very old (81.3 +/- 77 years), had multiple medical problems and high levels of disability (48.6% had a katz ADL index worse than E). The frequency of hospital admissions was high (50% of the patients) but the total number of days in hospital was low (16.1 +/- 18.6 days for a 211.7 +/- 162.3 days of follow-up). Total mortality was 33.9%; 56.9% of them happened at home. CONCLUSIONS. Geriatric home care units can reduce long hospital stays of severely disabled or terminally ill elderly patients, and can provide adequate health care to this group at patients.