Literature Review On Hospital Readmission

Hospital readmission, a growing health care concern, causes a major toll in health care cost and Medicare spending for unplanned hospitalizations. With a variety of inclinations that account for the increasing cases of the elderly population at risk for hospital readmission, measures such as follow – up care, transitional care, and multidisciplinary interventions are implemented to reduce the risk of readmission among the elderly population. Readmission, a return to the hospital after discharge from a recent stay, go hand in glove with transitional care. Transitional care encompasses a comprehensive series of services with the aim to support the safe coordination and suitable continuity of care as patients move from one health care provider …show more content…
This is because discharge planning is individualized for the patient. The patient is an essential part of the discharge process. Therefore, this process optimizes on their participation and comprehension. The discharge meeting includes the patient, primary caregiver and members of the health care team. Additionally, working with nurses that are familiar with the patient throughout the process provides a level of comfort and understanding between the nurse and the patient. This relationship can prevent medication and medical errors and ensure accurate transfer of information. The authors demonstrated that these success rates are largely driven by the continuity of care provided by members of the care team who previously interacted with the patient. Thus, meeting the complex needs of patients and their caregivers. Similarly, evidence has shown that caregivers included in discharge planning, and have an understanding of the patient’s needs, are more willing to accept the caregiver role (Soares, et al., …show more content…
This is because there is no clear understanding when the outpatient physician assumes responsibility of the patient. In the event of a complication with medication prescribing or monitoring errors, the patient is more likely to return to the hospital. Bridging the gap between hospital and outpatient physicians would reduce Medicare spending on readmission. Numerous methods to expand transitions of the elderly populations from an inpatient to an outpatient setting have been developed. However, these methods require considerable and continuous commitments from healthcare personnel. Therefore, the adoption and use of electronic health records (EHRs) by healthcare providers, capitalizes on new opportunities to automate processes that improve the quality and safety of care for people after discharge. The current efforts to reduce readmission, encourages the testing of future interventions. Currently, people have been provided opportunities to be active and involved in the care through EHR patient portals. Although this is theoretical, the potential to involve patients in their care improves quality of care (Gurwitz, et