Mobile geriatric consultant services for rest homes. Study of the effects of consultations by internal medicine specialists in the medical care of rest home residents

Hospital admissions are frequent among long-term residents of nursing homes and can result in detrimental complications affecting the patients' somatic, psychological, and cognitive status. In this prospective controlled study, we investigated the effects of a mobile geriatric consultant service (GECO) offered by specialists in internal medicine on frequency of hospitalizations in nursing home residents. During a 10-month observation period, residents in a control nursing home received medical attendance by general practitioners as is common in Austrian nursing homes. Residents in the intervention nursing home also received the medical service of GECO. Within the group of rest home residents receiving GECO support, a statistically significant lower frequency of acute transports to hospitals was observed in comparison to residents of the control nursing home (mean number of acute transports to hospitals/100 residents/month: 6.1 versus 11.7; p < 0.01). The number of planned non-acute hospital and specialist office presentations was also lower in the intervention nursing home (mean number of hospital and specialist office presentations/100 residents/month: 14.4 versus 18.0); however, this difference did not reach statistical significance. This study shows that a mobile medical geriatric consultant service based on specialists in internal medicine can improve medical care in nursing homes resulting in a statistically significant reduction of acute transports to hospitals.