Patients overstaying their welcome in hospitals

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I just watched Rock Center with Brian Williams tonight on NBC and he had a story about patients in hospitals that are no longer receiving acute care, but stay for years because they do not have anywhere else to go and can not be kicked out. I have heard of a few months stay,,,but 2 years? That's a long time.

Have any of you actually known patients that were 'stuck' in the hospital with no where to be discharged to?

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

Yes, and the pt was on our floor for 11 months til placement was found. She was not "sick" but a psych pt and everyone kept refusing her. We got her a small Christmas tree for her room during the holidays and got her a gift. She would not allow us to touch her so we just checked on her and made sure she was safe and fed :)

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I work on a Complex Continuing Care floor and we have many that are not able to manage at home and have their names on lists waiting for a nursing home.Many stay several months, some close to a year.We can't discharge them home if they need constant care so they stay.Usually we have about half our floor are waiting for beds. Depending which homes they have picked and what kind of room(ward, semi or private) the wait may be a few weeks or a few months.

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I've seen patients stay for years. Nursing homes don't have beds, the patient refuses an available bed, the family refuses the bed, nursing home can't take them due to behavioural issues, etc... Essentially these patients live in the hospital.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
I've seen patients stay for years. Nursing homes don't have beds, the patient refuses an available bed, the family refuses the bed, nursing home can't take them due to behavioural issues, etc... Essentially these patients live in the hospital.

What a horrible "life".

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Yup. And I have not been a nurse very long. Every year starting in the next couple of months we have patients who cannot get placed due to being a charity case and all the LTACs having used up all their charity funding for the year. So the patient lingers in the hospital, sometimes for months on end, until a solution can be found.

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I just watched Rock Center with Brian Williams tonight on NBC Did anyone think about the need to pay relatives to care for their elderly. Many cannot quit their jobs to care for relatives even though they want to. Why not pay the relatives instead of the hospital so both can survive and probably get much better care than in nursing homes. I was able to quit my job and care for my mother. Many cannot. Paying the relative a reasonable wage would be much less than the money it costs to be in nursing home or assisted living

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Many need around the clock attention.How would one person provide 24 hour care and assess their health on a regular basis.Many need nursing care not just someone to help with ADLs.

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This is a common occurrence where I work. Nothing as dramatic as a year, but we have patients who have no need for acute care but have to stay for weeks due to no insurance coverage. We see a lot of osteomyelitis and endocarditis that require many weeks of IV antibiotic therapy. Once they are no longer acutely ill, the insured patients are discharged to a subacute facility or to home and receive their antibiotic therapy via home health. But the uninsured stay with us for weeks and weeks and weeks. And that means thousands and thousands of dollars. And guess who's paying for it, folks?

How people can think we don't need health care reform is beyond me. The current system is insane.

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It would be cheaper to pay a family member who could be assisted by home health nurse than it is to keep these folks in acute care.

TPN feeding seems to be one factor that makes a pt difficult to place (of course w/ no insurance). TPN is really expensive.

I have seen pt's hang around for months on your basic acute med-surg floor just waiting for placement. They just keep getting denied and the hospital is "stuck" with them at the cost of the hospital.

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Many need around the clock attention.How would one person provide 24 hour care and assess their health on a regular basis.Many need nursing care not just someone to help with ADLs.

Actually many AD spouses take care of ther loved one 24/7. Sadly, if the family or husband/wife does not qualify for Medicaid, there is nothing else that can be done. They will shoulder the responsibility on their own and assume the responsibility of the nurse--I am not just discussing assistance with ADLs. The 24/7 care, stress and lack of help is the reason why the caregiver is at the highest risk for death.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I am in Canada so it is different. There is no question of having to qualify.LTC is accessible to everyone.Not having coverage is ever an issue.

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