QEII Hospital’s approach to providing the best support for older patients as well as patients requiring rehabilitation has led to the QEII GEMRHITH pathway.

Launched in October 2019, the partnership approach between Allied Health and Acute Care@Home has delivered promising outcomes including low readmission rates, low rates of hospital-acquired conditions (four within the first year of service delivery) and an average length of stay of four to five days.

Senior Occupational Therapist, Anya Suzuki said the QEII GEMRHITH pathway is unlike traditional models of Geriatric Evaluation and Management (GEM) and Hospital in the Home (HITH) because of the inclusion of rehabilitation patients.

“Our QEII GEMRHITH is a geriatrician-led multidisciplinary service which provides hospital avoidance and early discharge referral pathways for patients requiring geriatric sub-acute care or rehabilitation under the HITH model of care,” she said.

“Within the first year of service delivery, 15 per cent of patients were referred directly from the Emergency Department and GEMRHITH occupancy remained consistent throughout the COVID pandemic.” 

A research study into the pathway will include functional outcomes for patients, reported satisfaction as well as an economic overview of the benefits to both patients and the service.

“With the data collected we hope to prove that the QEII GEMRHITH model of care helps geriatric and rehabilitation patients to get back to their home environment sooner and safer with a high level of satisfaction,” Anya said.

If you want to know more about the evaluation of the GEMRHITH service at QEII hospital you can contact a member of the research team: 

• Senior Occupational Therapist Anya Suzuki,
• Director of Allied Health Leo Ross,
• Director of Occupational Therapy Ruth Cox,
• Director of CFAHR (Centre for Functioning and Health Research) Dr Elizabeth Ward,
• CFAHR workforce development officers Dr Laurelie Wishart and Dr Greg Kyle,
• Assistant Director of Nursing for AC@H & CHIP Melissa McCusker
• Consumer Co-Researcher & Consumer Advisor Alex McConnell
• QEII Consumer Committee.

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