Telephone discharge support for frail, vulnerable older people discharged from hospital: Impact on readmission rates - Participant and general practitioner feedback

Autor: Claire P Heppenstall, Michelle R. Dhanak, Tim J Wilkinson, H C Hanger
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Male
Program evaluation
Health Knowledge
Attitudes
Practice

medicine.medical_specialty
Time Factors
Attitude of Health Personnel
Frail Elderly
Pilot Projects
Patient Readmission
Vulnerable Populations
Feedback
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Patient satisfaction
General Practitioners
030502 gerontology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Intervention (counseling)
Humans
Medicine
Prospective Studies
030212 general & internal medicine
Prospective cohort study
Aged
Aged
80 and over

Community and Home Care
Geriatrics
business.industry
Telephone call
General Medicine
Continuity of Patient Care
medicine.disease
Patient Discharge
Telephone
Patient Satisfaction
Family medicine
Cohort
Female
Medical emergency
Geriatrics and Gerontology
0305 other medical science
Older people
business
Program Evaluation
Zdroj: Australasian Journal on Ageing. 37:107-112
ISSN: 1440-6381
DOI: 10.1111/ajag.12477
Popis: Objective To assess the use and acceptability to older participants and general practitioners (GPs) of telephone support postdischarge to reduce readmissions. Methods A prospective cohort study of older people after discharge from a specialist geriatric unit, and comparison with a previous cohort. Telephone follow-up calls were made fortnightly for three months. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain feedback from participants and GPs. Results Readmission rates were high, 40%, despite the intervention. This rate had significantly increased since the earlier cohort. Almost one-fifth of the sample (19%) were readmitted before the first telephone call. Subsequent readmissions were not related to whether participants had reported deteriorating health during the preceding telephone call. Feedback on the intervention from both participants and GPs was supportive. Conclusions Telephone follow-up as we used it did not reduce readmission rates. However, it was well received and appreciated by participants. It is possible the telephone calls were not made early enough or frequently enough to achieve the desired outcome.
Databáze: OpenAIRE