Mobile Geriatric Teams - a beneficial intervention for frail older persons

Background: Interdisciplinary Mobile Geriatric Teams (MGTs) has been developed in Sweden to support frail older person's patients living in ordinary housing in their own homes. However, we know little of its consequences. The... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Interdisciplinary Mobile Geriatric Teams (MGTs) has been developed in Sweden to support frail older person's patients living in ordinary housing in their own homes. However, we know little of its consequences. The purpose of this study is to perform a prospective and randomized evaluation of the effectiveness of MGTs. Method: The study includes 30 persons in each group, i.e., intervention group, active control group and administrative control group. Data on health care and social care use is collected one year before and one year after admission to the study for all three groups. Data collection using qualitative interviews, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Katz ADL-index, Life-space Assessment (LSA) and goal attainment is collected before the intervention and after 15 weeks of intervention in intervention group, and at the same time in the active control group. Results: Preliminary findings shows that MGTs decrease hospital admissions by about 50%. Findings also point to positive effects of interventions. However, data from more clients needs to be collected during autumn 2015 to determine if changes are significant (will be presented at the conference). Clients and their relatives are also very satisfied with the intervention provided by MGTs.
Conclusion: MGTs reduce unnecessary hospitalization through home-based interventions and care plans enabling health, safety and security for frail older persons.
Application to practice: Findings from the present study will be able to guide occupational therapy and inter-professional interventions for this target group. This is essential given the increasing share of older people in Europe.