A DAY HOSPITAL FOR COGNITIVE DISORDERS: EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST YEAR OF ACTIVITY

✍ Scribed by CRISTINA GEROLDI; GIOVANNI B. FRISONI; ORAZIO ZANETTI; ANGELO BIANCHETTI; MARCO TRABUCCHI

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 399 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199610)11:10<895::aid-gps405>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

The aims of this study were to (i) describe the typology of patients admitted to the day hospital for cognitive disorders of the Alzheimer's Disease Unit, Brescia, Italy, and (ii) describe the diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions carried out. Data are presented on the first 102 consecutive patients admitted to the day hospital. Seventy-five per cent of patients had not previously received an appropriate diagnostic evaluation. The mean length of stay in the day hospital was 5 days for patients receiving diagnostic evaluation only, 2 weeks for those also receiving treatment for medical disorders or behavioural disturbance, and 1 month for cognitive rehabilitation. Though the effectiveness and usefulness of a day hospital service remains largely undemonstrated in terms of user satisfaction and quality of care, the present study suggests a day hospital may have a role in the diagnosis of cognitive disorder.

KEY WORDS-day hospital; cognitive disorders; dementia; services Day hospitals are outpatient facilities where patients receive medical, rehabilitive, nursing, social and psychological services without sleeping on the premises. Provision of psychiatric day hospital places dates from 1932 in the USSR, but psychiatric and geriatric day hospitals were mainly opened in western countries, especially in the United Kingdom and USA, in the past 2&30 years (Bergener ef al., 1987).

In the present study, we evaluated the first 102 consecutive patients admitted to the day hospital for cognitive disorders of the Alzheimer's Disease Unit, Brescia, Italy, with the aim of defining the type of patients admitted, their needs in terms of specific diagnosis, therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions and their survival after 2 years.