Crotty el al report that transitional care can reduce length of stay,
without adverse effects. I note that patients recruited were awaiting long
-term care, but the placement was not available at that particular time.
I was impressed by the services available for these patients. These
included assessment by a specialist therapy team, early multidisciplinary
team involvement, goal setting, 24-hour medical on-call cover and weekly
review by a specialist in rehabilitation. From my experiences, patients
awaiting placement in acute hospitals do not receive this level of care.
The positive results of this study may be a consequence of superior
resources available for these patients occupying a transitional care bed.
Transitional care may only be effective in practice if this high level of
care is available.
Rapid Response:
Transitional Care
Crotty el al report that transitional care can reduce length of stay,
without adverse effects. I note that patients recruited were awaiting long
-term care, but the placement was not available at that particular time.
I was impressed by the services available for these patients. These
included assessment by a specialist therapy team, early multidisciplinary
team involvement, goal setting, 24-hour medical on-call cover and weekly
review by a specialist in rehabilitation. From my experiences, patients
awaiting placement in acute hospitals do not receive this level of care.
The positive results of this study may be a consequence of superior
resources available for these patients occupying a transitional care bed.
Transitional care may only be effective in practice if this high level of
care is available.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests