RESUMEN
This paper discusses criterion for the appropriateness of admission to the hospitalization ward in the internal medical sector of the emergency department, and analyses the bedridden patients in the emergency department of the major hospital in the city of Genoa. The analysis covers 1930 patients, for which considerations are made, globally and separately in two different age groups, as to the appropriateness of admission to the hospitalization ward of the emergency department, the occurrence of subjective urgencies and objective instabilities, and progression subsequent to hospitalization (discharge, transfer into other hospital wards, decease). The most significant results of the analysis were the following: (1) no significant difference was found between younger and older patients regarding appropriateness of admission; (2) in cases of appropriate admission subjective urgency was clearly prevalent in relation to objective instability, the latter being much more frequent in the older age group; (3) a lack of self-sufficiency and the absence of adequate family support were important factors regarding inappropriate admission of older patients; (4) the greater frequency of objective instability in the older patients-as well as a lack of self-sufficiency-was the major factor in their greater length of stay in the emergency department. These results challenge the misconceived but diffused conviction that there is widespread mishandling of the elderly regarding admission to the emergency department, while at the same time stresses the need for alternative services and structures concerning hospital admission of older patients.