National survey 2004 on medical services for persons with intellectual disability in residential care in Israel

In Israel, the Office of the Medical Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs is responsible for the medical service in residential-care centers for persons with intellectual disability (ID). A standard annual questionnaire was developed during 1997-1998, and the first national survey study was conducted in 1998. This present paper presents the findings of the seventh national survey in 2004, for which the following information was gathered via questionnaires: age, gender, and level of intellectual disability of persons served at the residential care center in question, status of the population served, functional profile, nursing, medical, and allied professional staff, number of annual examinations, preventive medicine aspects, medications, number of annual cases of infectious disease, annual unintentional injuries, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations, internal residential center hospitalization, ambulatory out-patient use, use of outside laboratory examinations, and dental care. In 2004, 6,610 persons were served in nine government, 37 private, and 12 public centers. The average number of persons served per center was 113.97 (range 23 to 372). The survey in 2004 showed that 79.2% of the population with ID in residential care in Israel was between 20 and 60 years of age; 48.8% had severe or profound ID, 41% had moderate ID, and 10% had mild ID;23% were nursing patients; 19% were confined to a wheelchair; 31% had epilepsy; 83% were receiving medication daily for chronic illness; and 52.5% were receiving psychotropic medication for psychiatric illness.