From Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility to Skilled Nursing Facility to Home: A Retrospective Study of Functional Recovery

Level of Evidence

III

Introduction

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) care has an inherent goal of discharging patients back into the community. Some patients do not progress sufficiently and require discharge to alternate facilities. No prior studies have examined outcomes for patients requiring Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) placement after their stay at an IRF.

Objective

Our goal was to identify functional outcomes of patients who receive combined rehabilitation from IRF and SNF.

Design

This is a retrospective observational study. A semi‐structured phone call questionnaire evaluated for living situation and aid requirement at 2 time points: prior to acute hospitalization and following discharge from SNF.

Setting

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility

Participants

Persons who required post‐acute care stay at an IRF, and at time of discharge, were not yet safe to return home, so instead were admitted to a SNF.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Changes in pre‐ & post‐morbid functional status categorized by living situation and aid requirement.

Results

Forty‐three adults completed the study. 58.2% of respondents returned to baseline independence following stay at IRF followed by SNF. 63.4% of respondents who lived at home prior to acute hospitalization returned home following IRF and SNF stay.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that those patients who receive further rehabilitation at a SNF following discharge from an IRF have the potential to return to baseline functioning and subsequently return home. This data suggests that utilizing IRFs in conjunction with SNFs might be an effective, patient‐centered option for rehabilitation. However, further investigation is required to explore whether these findings may be generalized to a larger sample are warranted.

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