International journal of environmental research and public health
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · Jun 2020
Multicenter StudySex-Specific Differences in Hospital Transfers of Nursing Home Residents: Results from the HOspitalizations and eMERgency Department Visits of Nursing Home Residents (HOMERN) Project.
Nursing home (NH) residents are often transferred to hospital (emergency department (ED) visits or hospital admissions) and this occurs more frequently in males. However, respective reasons are rather unclear. We conducted a multicenter prospective study in 14 northwest German NHs with 802 residents in which NH staff recorded anonymized data between March 2018 and July 2019 for each hospital transfer. ⋯ Only 9.2% of transfers were rated avoidable. For advance directive availability and NH staff's perceptions on transfer conditions, we found marked inter-facility differences. There might be sociocultural factors influencing hospital transfer decisions of male and female nursing home residents and facility characteristics that may affect transfer policy.