Trial of a geriatric consultation team in an acute care hospital.

A controlled trial was conducted to examine the effects of superimposing an interdisciplinary geriatric consultation team upon the conventional patterns of care in medical wards of an acute care hospital. Two hundred and twenty-two patients, aged 69 years of age or older, admitted from the emergency room to two trial wards and 182 similar patients admitted to two control wards where the team did not work, were followed. Evaluations at admission, two and four weeks, and three and six months postadmission by independent evaluators allowed comparisons between the care groups with reference to survival, length of stay, disposition, physical, mental, and social functional levels, and use of services after discharge. Data from charts and treatment logs allowed the care processes to be compared. Findings determined that patients in the two groups were alike on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics at entry. Results demonstrated that patients in the trial and control groups fared similarly on the outcome measures at each evaluation point, although a trend toward better survival among team patients was noted. It was concluded that the addition of a consultative geriatric team to the medical wards failed to show a significant impact on patient outcomes.