What predicts unplanned hospital admissions in older adults, and what can we do about it?

Today, we speak to Dr Jet Klunder, a GP trainee and a PhD candidate based at the Department of General Practice at Amsterdam University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

Title of paper: Predicting unplanned admissions to hospital in older adults using routinely recorded general practice data: development and validation of a prediction model

Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2023.0350

Unplanned hospital admissions in older adults are a critical concern for patients, family caregivers, healthcare professionals, and service planners. In this study a robust and easy-to-use prediction model has been developed and validated using routinely recorded data from general practices to predict the risk of unplanned hospital admissions in community-dwelling older adults. Identifying older adults at high risk can facilitate targeted preventive interventions, such as case management, telemedicine, or anticipatory care planning. Moreover, the model could also be utilised by policymakers for capacity planning of hospital beds.