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A Study of Patterns of Dying in a Multilevel Geriatric Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Isabel Brown
Isabel Brown
Affiliation:
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario
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Abstract

A retrospective study was conducted in a large multilevel geriatric centre to analyse the deaths reported in the year 1981. This centre provides accommodation for 750 elderly and/or chronically ill persons in three agencies—an apartment complex, a home for the aged, and a long-term care hospital The study revealed that the hospital is the place of death for a high proportion of the elderly residents of the centre. In particular, residents of the home for the aged are unlikely to remain in the “home” to die. It was found that patterns of death and dying for individuals admitted to the hospital from the general community differ in several ways from the patterns of those who are already living in the centre in terms of age and probable cause of death.

Résumé

Une étude rétrospective a été menée dans un centre gériatrique polyvalent en vue d'analyser les décès survenus en 1981. Ce centre accueille 750 personnes âgées et/ou malades chroniques répartis entre un complexe d'appartements, un foyer de vieillards, et un hôpital de soins à long terme. Les résultats de l'étude révèlent qu'une forte proportion des vieillards résident au centre meurent à l'hôpital, en particulier, que les pensionnaires du foyer ne meurent pas “au foyer”. Les résultats révèlent également que divers facteurs, tels l'âge et la cause probable du décès, sont différents dans le cas des admissions à l'hôpital provenant de la population ordinaire et de celles qui proviennent du centre.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , October 1983 , pp. 79 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1983

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References

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