Prolonged stays in hospital acute geriatric care units: identification and analysis of causes.

In France, the population of very old frail patients, who require appropriate high-quality care, is increasing. Given the current economic climate, the mean duration of hospitalization (MDH) needs to be optimized. This prospective study analyzed the causes of prolonged hospitalization in an acute geriatric care unit.

[Intensive care handling: specific expectations of rehabilitation].

For the severe head injured patients, the way of going from coma to arousal is considerably different from one patient to the other, and it is not always easy to determine the appropriate moment for taking them out of intensive care, into rehabilitation. This is the reason why, instead of considering these two treatments as successive phases, it is better to consider them as a collaboration process. The objective of this paper is to describe the needs of this type of patients, by using the data gathered on a weekly basis in the medical data department of the Centre Médical de l'Argentière, on patients admitted in 2002 in the rehabilitation and post-intensive care departments.