Care related improvement measures for the care of elderly are undertaken also in large hospitals. Holistic and person-centered strategically implemented concepts of age-friendly hospitals can hardly be recognized in these institutions in Austria. In order to successfully implement them in large hospitals, literature-based criteria have to be formulated. These should help to analyse the institutional context during initial action.
After defining the meaning of „age-friendly“ and „large hospital“ (from 800 beds), selected publications are presented.
Their core messages are then being compared and cross-checked with published case studies and studies researching the characteristics of healthcare institutions struggling to implement age-friendly concepts.
The findings are as follows:
The existing organisational values must be related to age-friendly thoughts. Evidence-based measures and their positive outcomes should be honoured and published. It is crucial to establish a common understanding and expression of “age-friendly”. Network structures must be set up, so communication is lived. Finally, it is important to identify relevant decision makers who support the implementation of age-friendly concepts.
The „age-friendly-development-criteria for large hospitals“ (AFD-criteria) should be helpful to analyse the large hospital and its organisational structures, before initiating first steps of change.