Are Our Hospitals Geriatric Friendly? A Study at a Tertiary Care Centre of Northern India

Abstract

Introduction: Older adults comprise majority of people receiving hospital services in many regions of our country. The Present Research was carried out to see physical facilities and problems faced by Geriatric patients in a tertiary care hospital. Material and Methods: It was a prospective type of study undertaken on elderly people based on Questionnaire. Cases were selected by Systematic Random sampling method by picking every 5th patient of the target population after checking the admission files in all wards. A total of 421 cases selected through systematic random sampling were studied. The questionnaire was developed and validated by a pilot study. The study population in the study were elderly (Geriatric) group of people with age = or > 60years as per their medical record. All those patients who do not agree to participate in the study and those patients who were comatose or on ventilator were excluded from the study. Results: Various parameters studied were Waiting time, availability of wheel chair / stretcher, separate counters at admission, nursing aides; difficulties in locating admission office, in getting the investigations done; 'Respect for age' and privacy, Routine cleanliness,pattern of toilets, Quality/ Quantity of food served, Information given at discharge about the management at home. Conclusion: The study on conclusion establishes that hospitals need to be made Geriatric friendly and Hospital management needs to introduce practicum in order to train and retrain the hospital patient care staff including doctors and nurses to improve their behaviour and skills to deal with the elderly patients so that their stay in the hospital is facilitated.