Article

OBJECTIVE: To gather preliminary data on the effectiveness of intensive
rehabilitation after hip fracture surgery, as provided in the Transfer Unit (TU)
in Leiden, The Netherlands, compared with the effectiveness of rehabilitation in
a regular nursing home. Intensive rehabilitation in the TU consists of physical
therapy twice daily by dedicated medical staff and aims to shorten hospital stay
and duration of rehabilitation,
in order to increase the hospital admission
capacity and reduce waiting lists for nursing homes. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort
study. PATIENTS: A total of 173 hip fracture patients, selected postoperatively
for intensive rehabilitation in the TU. Of these, 156 received TU rehabilitation
(TU+ group), while 17 were rehabilitated in regular nursing homes for logistic
reasons (TU- group). METHODS: Length of hospital stay, rehabilitation duration
and survival were compared between TU+ and TU-. RESULTS: Both groups appeared
comparable at baseline. TU+ patients had a mean hospital stay of 10.4 vs 12.3
days for TU- patients (p = 0.29), while their rehabilitation duration was 25.2
days shorter: 42.0 vs 67.2 days (p = 0.001). One-year survival was similar (87%).
CONCLUSION: Intensive rehabilitation in selected hip fracture patients may reduce
rehabilitation duration by almost 4 weeks. Differentiated aftercare appears to
increase care efficiency for hip fracture patients in both hospitals and nursing
homes and may result in a significant reduction in costs.

Langue : ANGLAIS