Clinical characteristics and outcomes in a cohort of patients who were assessed as in need of nursing-home care.

A cohort of 116 applicants who were assessed by the Bundoora Extended Care Assessment Team during the first six months of 1985 as requiring nursing-home care was followed-up in an attempt to detect the clinical characteristics that were associated with a delay in placement. The demographic and clinical features of this cohort are described. By the end of the follow-up period, 89 applicants had been admitted to nursing homes. The mean time from assessment to placement for this group was 97.1 days. A significant delay in placement was associated with an age of less than 80 years, an inability to speak English, the presence of an indwelling urinary catheter, and the need for assistance with feeding. We concluded that some clinical characteristics had an effect on the time to placement among the nursing-home applicants who were assessed in the catchment area of our team.