Aged care prevention programs
Lead Researcher:
Associate Professor Peter SmerdelySignificance:
Add up to 100 words on introduction, including why research is important, potential impact, impacted population etc.Major Research Achievements
A major grant supported an innovative study that set out to evaluate the impact and sustainability of an exercise programme on health outcomes and quality if life in the elderly. It is already well recognised that exercise programs in the aged do increase muscle strength and confer additional health benefits. However, such programmes have proved to be difficult or impossible to sustain due to their cost, high drop out rate and a high overall failure rate.The novelty of this study lies in its evaluation of mode of delivery, cost-effectiveness and its sustainability. It was the first to establish the feasibility and value of a self-sustaining programme with the nominal cost of only $45 per head (for a 9 week course). The team set up these programmes at minimal cost in local RSL clubs for example. The first enrolment was 12 and the programme now has in excess of 2,500 participants in the St George community.
This model has proved so successful, that it has now been adopted in other Area Health Services in NSW and around the country.
Among the positive benefits for patients are: increased muscle strength and tone resulting in reduced joint-related pain and analgesic usage, lowered cholesterol, reduced rate of decline in bone density, improved cognition and improvement in quality of life indicators and mood.
Importantly such programmes are keeping our senior citizens at home longer and out of hospitals. The Dept is planning further follow-up studies to evaluate longer-term outcomes of this programme.
Current and Future Research
Researchers have been responsible for several important initiatives that aim to remedy the current enormous problem of keeping our elderly well enough so that they may remain at home and thus avoid acute hospital admissions and institutionalisation.These include the "outreach" programme able to provide a rapid response team to handle subacute health problems experienced by the elderly at home. The hospital, because of its expertise in this area, was also chosen as one of 3 pilot sites to evaluate a "Shared care" model in which rapid implementation of care, along with the GPs, sometimes with a brief 1-2 day hospital stay, has been shown by cost-benefit analysis to be a robust model which has now been taken up State-wide.
