Acute care for elderly patients in a functional impairment prevention unit.

Aim: To determine whether the care of patients with moderate dependency who were hospitalised in a functional impairment prevention unit (FIPU) was superior to that of a conventional unit (CU) in terms of functional impairment and mean stay.

Methods: We conducted a single-centre, retrospective, controlled intervention study that compared acute treatment in an FIPU and in conventional wards. The study included 466 elderly patients with moderate dependence (Barthel index, 30-70) and older than 75 years. Of these, 280 were included in the intervention group and 186 in the control group. The primary outcomes were loss of functionality attributable to the hospitalisation (measured by the loss of ambulation and urinary continence) and differences in the length of stay.

Results: The patients hospitalised in the FIPU showed less functional impairment as determined by the loss of urinary continence (2.1% of the FIPU patients vs. 9.7% of the CU patients; p<.01) and the loss of walking ability (2.1% vs. 25.3%; p<.01). The patients hospitalised in the FIPU had a shorter mean stay (7.4 vs. 8.5 days; p<.05), with 1 day less of stay than the CU patients.

Conclusion: The acute care of elderly patients with moderate dependency in an FIPU was independently associated with less functional decline and shorter stays.