PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

N Morrow-Howell

Publications and source records attributed to N Morrow-Howell.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Patient and family satisfaction with discharge plans.

This study explored factors affecting patient and family satisfaction with discharge plans, an outcome of discharge planning provided by the hospital department of social work. Adequacy of discharge plans was rated by 126 patients and 130 family members within 24 hours before hospital discharge. Patient ratings of discharge plans were related to their degree of involvement in decision making, social support networks (sex and marital status), and physical condition (diagnosis and functional ability). Three types of factors were important to family members: 1) factors related to the discharge planning process, 2) the patient's discharge destination, and 3) length of patient hospital stay. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications on maximizing consumer satisfaction in the cost-conscious environment.

Aged

Service utilization by well-organized frail elderly individuals.

In spite of extensive legislation intended to provide social services for elderly individuals, there is a lingering question about how much elderly persons actually use these services. This article reports findings from a study involving an innovative program called STAES (System to Assure Elderly Services), located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri and in particular finds that frail elderly individuals in the STAES program are using services in greater numbers than the review of the literature seems to suggest. In-home services such as homemaker services and visiting nurses' services are indeed used by elderly individuals who are in greater need than others. Through discussing the objective and operation of this program, the article explains why elderly individuals participating in the STAES program are effective users of publicly provided social services.

Aged

Complications in discharge planning with Medicare patients.

Discharge planning is a complex professional task that affects hospital fiscal health and the quality of posthospital care. A study of discharge planning found that social workers encounter many complications in working with patients, families, other professionals, and service providers in arranging posthospital care. The study found that several complications are associated with delays in discharge and less adequate discharge plans, assessed by social workers at the time the patient is leaving acute care and by the patient 1 month posthospitalization. Results suggest the importance of various skills for social workers in acute medical care.

Aftercare

The impact of race on volunteer helping relationships among the elderly.

As programs solicit their help in providing transportation, shopping assistance, telephone reassurance, counseling, and information and referral to needy elderly people, older adults are going to fill increasingly important roles as volunteers in the social service system for this aging society. Little empirical work has been done on effective volunteer behavior. This article aims to increase understanding of this topic by exploring how race influences relationships between volunteers and the people they serve. This analysis reveals that race by itself does not affect volunteer helping behavior; black and white older adults perform similarly in volunteer roles on measures of time committed to service and satisfaction levels of clients. However, the racial composition of the dyad does have significant effects on the helping relationship; higher levels of contact and client satisfaction are reported when the volunteer and the client are of the same race. Professional training and support are necessary to overcome problems associated with racial differences between volunteers and their clients.

Black or African American

Life-span determinants of work in retirement years.

This article presents the results of a path analysis to clarify the life-span determinants of work effort in postretirement years. It was found that personal and structural characteristics are different between a group of retirees who did not work in the three years after retirement and those that worked more than 300 hours annually. Those that participated in the labor force after retirement experienced more successful employment histories before retirement. On the other hand, people with more marginal work histories were less likely to sustain work efforts after retirement, despite lower income.

Aged

Multipurpose Senior Service Program Deinstitutionalization Screen.

The Multipurpose Senior Services Program Deinstitutionalization Screening Instrument has been designed to identify easily and quickly those patients in nursing homes who are likely to be returned to the community through case-management efforts. The six-item screen and tables allow the interviewer to determine the probability of a patient being successfully discharged from a nursing home.

Activities of Daily Living