Impact of involvement of relatives in early home visits by a hospital-led geriatric team.

Objectives: To evaluate whether the involvement of relatives in home visits by a geriatric team post-discharge is associated with unplanned readmissions in severely frail patients living alone.

Methods: A quality improvement project evaluating outcomes from routine care of patients who were severely frail, 65+ years, living alone, and visited at home by a geriatric team after discharge from acute hospital admission. We compared patients who did and did not have relatives attending the visit. Data were analyzed by logistic regression.

Results: Of 437 patients with a mean age of 85.0 (±7.8) years 73% had severe comorbidity, 68% had a low functional ability, and 100 patients (23%) had relatives attending. Attendance of relatives was associated with a lower unplanned 30-day readmission rate (10% vs. 18%, adjusted odds ratio: 0.48 (0.23-1.00) p=0.05).

Conclusion: Results highlights the importance of involvement of relatives in care planning in the severely frail older patients living alone.