Effect of Geriatric Transfers on Mortality Rates

Abstract

In 1968 Stockton State Hospital, Stockton, California, decided to close its North Area facilities, which necessitated transferring six hundred geriatric psychiatric patients to other state hospitals or extramural facilities. This paper reports on a study to determine the effect of such transfers on the mortality rate of these patients. Variables studied were age, sex, race, organic or functional diagnosis, length of hospitalization, and whether the patients were ambulatory at the time of transfer. Mortality rates were significantly higher for this group—especially for the older, nonambulatory patients—than for a group of patients who had remained in their “home units,” The author emphasizes the need to establish policies that keep the patients' interests firmly in mind and are cognizant of the effects of environmental change, especially on the aged.

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