When elderly patients are admitted to hospital, they spend a lot of time in bed due to their illness or condition. This is detrimental to their health and recovery. 60% of geriatric patients experience functional decline in hospital, which can mean a longer length of stay.
But a team of researchers at Health Sciences North has found that introducing physiotherapy sessions on the weekends for geriatric patients significantly improves elderly patients’ physical function and gets them physically ready for discharge when medically stable. This could help in reducing the number of alternate level of care for patients in the health-care system.
Dr. Dylan Falk is the principal investigator for the study, funded by the Northern Ontario Academic Medicine Association and published in the Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine Journal. It’s co-authored by Dr. Venkadesan Rajendran and Dr. Deepa Jeevanantham who are physiotherapists at HSN.
Find more on the study.