Post-Acute Services to Older Patients With Heart Disease

Abstract

This article describes the assistance provided to 209 elderly patients with heart disease who received discharge planning before returning home from the hospital. Telephone interviews at two weeks postdischarge focused on their needs and the assistance received. The findings reveal that patients are very needy in the posthospital period and that families provide the bulk of care. Formal service use is most frequent in nursing care, bathing, and grooming but limited in areas of highest need-transportation, housekeeping, and shopping. Of the patients interviewed, 30% report insufficient help with personal care Patients rate the quality of care provided by formal sources higher than care provided by informal sources Questions are raised about the ability of families to meet the demands of post-acute care.