The Factors Influencing Selection for Rehabilitation Hospital After Stroke

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing selection for rehabilitation hospital in patients who have been diagnosed with stroke.Methods: This study included 169 stroke patients who were admitted to the top 5 hospitals with the highest recovery rate among 13 hospitals where the rehabilitation medicine is operated as the main medical department in Daegu Metropolitan City. The data was collected from 10 February, 2020 to 17 March, 2020, and the survey was conducted by the head of the hospital administration in each hospital for about a month through face to face.Results: Among the factors influencing selection for rehabilitation hospital after stroke, image factors were at the highest mean and standard deviation (3.83 ± 0.74), following human factors (3.75 ± 0.77), physical factors (3.57 ± 0.89), efficiency factors (3.35 ± 0.69), accessibility factors (3.11 ± 1.00). In the demographic characteristics, human factors were considered important when selecting hospital in aged people over 70 years old (p< 0.01). Efficiency factors and human factors were considered important if patients living outside Daegu (p< 0.05), but accessibility factors were more important if patients living in Daegu (p< 0.01). In the stroke related characteristics, the human factors were considered important in the shorter the disease period, and in the case of having swallowing disorders (p< 0.05). When paralysis was affected on both sides (bilateral paralysis), physical factors were considered important (p< 0.05), and efficiency factor was also considered important as the disease periods gets shorter (p< 0.05). Efficiency factors and accessibility were important in the case of not having respiratory disorders compared to those with the respiratory disorders (p< 0.05). The results of the factors for choosing a hospital according to the stroke diseases-related characteristics showed that human factors, physical factors, and hospital image factors were considered important in case of putting much of the efforts to gather hospital information (p< 0.01). When the patients who had rehabilitation in the tertiary hospital prior to the current hospital admission, the physical factors were considered important (p< 0.05).Conclusions: This study found that various factors were considered in patients who have been diagnosed with stroke, when selecting rehabilitation hospital after stroke. Therefore, it should be warranted to provide reliable and objective hospital information for stroke patients through establishing national level health system and sharing rehabilitation data so that the people can get effective rehabilitation at the right time.