[Are patients in geriatric clinics rehabilitated?]

In order to verify the effectiveness of various rehabilitation activities commonly used in geriatric clinics or nursing homes, a total of 453 persons from seven clinics/nursing homes had been assessed four times in 12 months by staff from the respective facility. First, the thesis of the multimorbidity in old age was confirmed by an average 4.4 diagnoses per patient. Rehabilitation measures were found to have been only rarely provided, with rehabilitative efforts having focussed mainly on the patients in better shape. On the other hand, visits from close relatives such as children or spouse are more frequent for patients who function at lower levels. It has been possible by cross-lagged correlation to demonstrate the positive effects of concentrated rehabilitative efforts undertaken over a period of twelve months. A significant correlation to specific rehabilitation techniques has not been stated.