THE PROBLEMS OF ELDERLY PEOPLE AT HOME ONE WEEK AFTER-DISCHARGE FROM AN ACUTE-CARE SETTING

The problems of elderly people following discharge from hospital is a worldwide focus of nursing attention. Actual and local insight into th e nature and extent of post-discharge problems is needed as a base for improving and evaluating discharge planning. Problems following disch arge were investigated as the first part of a larger study. Over a 3-m onth period, 251 elderly people who had been discharged after a hospit al stay of more than 3 days, were asked to participate in the study. H alf received a postal questionnaire and half were interviewed at home, one week after discharge. There were 145 respondents. The need for in formation was mentioned by 80% of the patients. Housekeeping tasks als o caused most patients some difficulty. Almost 40% of those discharged reported some kind of unmet need.