Elderly long-stay surgical patients.

This paper examines long hospital stays (more than 30 days) among 196 surgical patients over 65 years of age in two acute-care hospitals. Patients in the long-stay group--54 (28%) of the 196--were not demographically different from the others but showed a significantly (p less than 0.05) higher rate of cognitive impairment, dependence before admission and admission through the emergency department. Although these patients more often required catheterization and were nursed in bed or in "gerichairs", many were suitable for discharge to the community if appropriate accommodation could have been found.