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“Social admissions” to hospital are not personal failures but policy ones | CMAJ

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In research published in this issue of CMAJ, Mah and colleagues summarize clinicians’ experiences of providing care for patients whose presenting illness is not acute and for whom admission to hospital is not warranted, and yet complex health needs and a background of inadequate social supports mean they cannot safely be discharged.1 The article’s authors use the term “social admissions.” Yet, the pervasive, pejorative term often used is “failure to cope,” which implicitly blames the person for their circumstances. In an era when hospitals routinely exceed 100% occupancy, “socially admitted” patients are seen as a problem by clinicians, hospitals, and governments.1 Providers perceive that such patients receive suboptimal care, yet they experience frustration that hospitals have become the place where all roads lead for an increasing number of people who cannot manage in the community. However, patients are not to blame for the fact that home care is inadequate, long-term care is unavai

Article Related Content Responses Metrics PDF See related article at www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.231430 In research published in this issue of CMAJ , Mah and colleagues summarize clinicians’ experiences of providing care for patients whose presenting illness is not acute and for whom admission to hospital is not warranted, and yet complex health needs and a background of inadequate social supports mean they cannot safely be discharged. 1 The article’s authors use the term “social admissions.” Yet, the pervasive, pejorative term often used is “failure to cope,” which implicitly blames t

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