How to Prevent Avoidable Readmissions

Unit 5: RUA: Analyzing Published Research 

Healthcare organizations and professionals define hospital readmission as a case in which a patient who has been discharged from a particular medical care institution is admitted again in a particular time interval. Hospital readmissions can be categorized into avoidable and unavoidable cases. Healthcare institutions across the globe have reported cases of readmissions as being a problem that potentially increases the cost of running the hospitals. According to Dinerstein (2018), one of the causes of hospital readmission is the early discharge of the patients before they are stable. The other cause of the readmission is that the patients may have been discharged to a location or facility that does not support recovery. The other cause of the upsurge in the cases of hospital readmission is the worsening of the original condition that the patient was suffering from due to poor follow-up or even bad luck (Dinerstein, 2018). 

The problem of hospital readmission is worsened by the fact that the hospitals are held accountable for the readmission rates even though the healthcare professionals and other members of staff can only control a few factors influencing readmission (Dinerstein, 2018). Additionally, healthcare analysts have reported that since medical care practitioners can only control a few factors that influence the hospital readmission rates, the situation is likely to improve slowly. According to Wilson et al. (2018), the factors leading to the readmission of patients within seven days is still unclear and presents a research problem that prompts further studies to probe into the readmission issue. As such, the hospital readmission rates can be effectively determined more so with the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) (Wilson et al., 2018). The readmission rates are more likely to be found among older adults with more complex healthcare needs (Wilson et al., 2018). The paper, therefore, identifies a sustainable strategy that leads to the preventing of avoidable readmissions among the various patients in healthcare institutions. 

Evidence Matrix Table 

Modern healthcare institutions across the globe are currently battling the issue of avoidable readmissions, which has challenged the primary caregivers and other stakeholders in healthcare. Having implemented various strategies aimed at reducing the avoidable readmissions, most of the medical care institutions have focused their attention on implementing the evidence-based practices (EBP) that streamline the provision of care in the institutions (Dinerstein, 2018). An example of the EBP practice that has been accepted by the majority of the institutions is the proper management of transitions in healthcare for the caregivers and the patients. The outcome of the move is that the errors made in documentation and medications have reduced drastically, thus reducing the number of avoidable readmissions. Following the same EBP path, the policymakers in the healthcare industry have to come up with other practices that will see the number of avoidable readmissions go even lower (Dinerstein, 2018). Various EBP interventions, such as enhanced clinical support, have also been given to reduce the avoidable readmissions in addition to the management of transitions. The primary question, however, still centers on the most appropriate and effective intervention. 

References  

Dinerstein, C. (2018, October 3). The Continuing Problem of Hospital Readmissions. American Council on Science and Health . Retrieved from https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/10/03/continuing-problem-hospital-readmissions-13467 

Wilson, A., Martins-Welch, D., Williams, M., Tortez, L., Kozikowski, A., Earle, B., ... & 

Pekmezaris, R. (2018). Risk Factor Assessment of Hospice Patients Readmitted within 7 Days of Acute Care Hospital Discharge. Geriatrics , 3 (1), 4.