At least five acute-care hospitals with a total of 45,000 patients will take part in the study. From the time patients are admitted to hospital, the treating doctors, nurses and social welfare staff will record data on the patients’ stay, discharge and, where appropriate, re-admission using specific interprofessional tools. In addition, patients will be contacted by telephone 30 days after they are discharged and asked about their satisfaction and state of health. Comparison of the patients’ data before, during and after the introduction of the interprofessional tools and with patient data from hospitals not participating in the study will provide information about the efficacy of the tools. Differences in and obstacles to interprofessional collaboration and the reasons for delayed discharge from hospital will also be analysed. The intention is for the data to be incorporated into a system for monitoring treatment quality (a “cockpit”).
In-patient hospital stays – especially by elderly patients with multiple disorders – are a major factor in the explosion of costs in the health system. Hospitals, however, have no evidence-based data or tools relevant to the everyday setting that are capable of comparing the duration and quality of in-patient treatments or optimising and comparing referrals to other departments or institutions. Interprofessional tools developed at the cantonal hospital in Aarau can fill a gap here in tandem with the electronic hospital information system.
The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy of interprofessional tools with respect to the length of hospital stays. In addition, interprofessional collaboration will be optimised and patient-centred monitoring of in-patient treatment quality will be established.
The product of the study will be validated instruments for interprofessional collaboration and a system for monitoring treatment quality in the hospital setting. The study will also generate data on handling interprofessional collaboration, on transition processes and on elderly patients with multiple disorders.
Integrative Hospital Treatment in Older patients to benchmark and improve Outcome and Length of stay – the In-HospiTOOL study
