Table 2.

 Description of inpatient rehabilitation programmes specifically designed for geriatric patients in 17 included randomised controlled trials

	Programme description	Structure of programme			Process of programme
		Location	Additional team members*		Multidimensional geriatric assessment	Assignment to therapy	Intervention team meetings for goal setting	Mean length of hospital stay after randomisation (days)†	Follow-up intervention after hospital discharge
General geriatric rehabilitation
Applegate 1990	Geriatric assessment unit	Separate unit in acute care hospital complex	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, social worker, speech therapist, dietician		Yes	Yes	Weekly	23.6	No
Cohen 2002	Geriatric evaluation and management unit	Separate unit in acute care medical centre	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, dietician		Yes	Yes	Twice a week	23.2	Yes (one subsample: outpatient care in VA geriatric programme)
Fleming 2004	Care home rehabilitation services	Separate institution for rehabilitation	Social worker, occupational therapist		No	No	No	16.3	No
Karppi 1995	Geriatric inpatient unit	Separate unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, psychologist		Yes	NA	NA	16.5	No
Rubenstein 1984	Geriatric evaluation unit	Separate unit in acute care medical centre	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, psychologist, dietician		Yes	Yes	Weekly	85.1	Yes (continuing care in geriatric outpatient clinic)
Saltvedt 2002	Geriatric evaluation and management unit	Separate unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist		Yes	Yes	Twice a week	21.2	No
White 1994	Multidisciplinary geriatric care	Separate unit in acute care hospital	Social worker, dietician, occupational therapist, pharmacist, physiotherapist		Yes	Yes	Yes	7.7	No
Young 2007	Multidisciplinary geriatric care	Separate hospital for rehabilitation	Physiotherapist, social worker		Yes	No	Yes	22‡	No
Orthopaedic geriatric rehabilitation
Cameron 1993	Accelerated rehabilitation	Combined acute/post-acute unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker		Yes	No	Yes	19.5	Yes (day hospital or physiotherapy)
Gilchrist 1988	Orthopaedic geriatric inpatient care	Separate hospital for rehabilitation	Orthopaedic surgeon, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker		No	No	Weekly	33.8	No
Huusko 2002	Intensive geriatric rehabilitation	Separate unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, psychologist		Yes	Yes	Weekly	34	Yes (physiotherapy for two months)
Kennie 1988	Geriatric rehabilitation	Separate hospital for rehabilitation	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist		Yes	No	Yes	24‡	No
Naglie 2002	Postoperative multidisciplinary care	Separate unit in acute care hospital	Orthopaedic surgeon, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker		Yes	No	No	29.2	No
Shyu 2005	Multidisciplinary intervention programme	Combined acute/post-acute unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist		Yes	Yes	Yes	10.1	Yes (geriatric nurse coordination of follow-up services and clinic visits)
Stenvall 2007	Multidisciplinary postoperative rehabilitation	Combined acute/post-acute unit in acute care hospital	Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, dietician		Yes	Yes	Yes	30.0	Yes
Swanson 1998	Multidisciplinary rehabilitation intervention	Combined acute/post-acute unit in acute care hospital	Orthopaedic surgeon, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker		Yes	Yes	Weekly	21.0	Yes (follow-up visit one and six months after discharge)
Vidan 2005	Comprehensive geriatric intervention	Combined acute/post-acute unit in acute care hospital	Social worker, rehabilitation specialist		Yes	Yes	Weekly	16‡	No

NA=not available.

*All teams included geriatrician and nurse.

†Weighted for sample size.

‡Median.