Medical Intervention Program fills gap for aging patients

St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital is now offering an alternative care option for people with chronic or complex conditions who may not meet existing rehabilitation criteria.

6 Dec 2022

The hospital’s Medical Intervention Program (MIP) is a sub-acute care model for ageing people with chronic or complex conditions that require daily care but who don’t necessarily meet the need for rehabilitative services.

St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital Director of Clinical Services, Karen Ward says it’s a unique offering that can help close a gap that currently exists in the provision of health care for the older generation.

“The MIP is designed to provide people who don’t need access to acute care with an alternative pathway to addressing their needs of receiving ongoing medical support and treatment,” Karen says.

Wound care or medication management/education are examples of conditions that might see a patient referred to St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital and may be able to access the MIP.

Karen says that each individual patient is assessed prior to admission to determine suitability for this service.

“We can accept referrals to either the MIP unit or for rehabilitation,” Karen says.

“Our assessment nurse will then conduct the appropriate evaluations to establish which program would best suit a patient’s specific needs.”

The assessment criteria takes into account a number of factors such as
whether a person is experiencing:

a decrease in function
an increase in disability
geriatric syndromes
frailty
multisystem diseases

It also determines what might be required to treat the referred patient.

“Some patients may require complex interdisciplinary assessments or comprehensive geriatric assessments,” Karen states.

“Education might be needed around falls management, dietary and nutrition, or medication. Whatever specific condition a patient has, if it falls outside admission criteria, we will accept referrals and assess on an individual basis as there may be other options available.”

Admission requires a length of stay between 10 to 14 days with a discussion on assessment for individual cases needing to extend care beyond that time period.