Early discharge care with ongoing follow-up support may reduce hospital readmissions in COPD.
Authors
Lawlor, MariaKealy, Sinead
Agnew, Michelle
Korn, Bettina
Quinn, Jennifer
Cassidy, Ciara
Silke, Bernard
O'Connell, Finbarr
O'Donnell, Rory
Affiliation
Department of Respiratory Medicine, CResT Directorate, St. James' Hospital,, Dublin 8, Ireland.Issue Date
2012-02-01T10:45:41ZMeSH
Aged*Ambulatory Care/utilization
Counseling
*Emergency Service, Hospital/utilization
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
*Inpatients/statistics & numerical data
*Length of Stay/statistics & numerical data
Middle Aged
*Patient Discharge/statistics & numerical data
Patient Education as Topic
*Patient Readmission/statistics & numerical data
Physical Therapy Modalities
Program Development
Program Evaluation
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/nursing/*therapy
Retrospective Studies
*Self Care/utilization
Severity of Illness Index
Telephone
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2009;4:55-60. Epub 2009 Apr 15.Journal
International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasePubMed ID
19436695Abstract
BACKGROUND: Early discharge care and self-management education, although effective in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), do not typically reduce hospital re-admission rates for exacerbations of the disease. We hypothesized that a respiratory outreach programme that comprises early discharge care followed by continued rapid-access out-patient support would reduce the need for hospital readmission in these patients. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-six patients, acutely admitted with exacerbations of COPD, were recruited to the respiratory outreach programme that included early discharge care, follow-up education, telephone support and rapid future access to respiratory out-patient clinics. Sixty of these patients received self-management education also. Emergency department presentations and admission rates were compared at six and 12 months after, compared to prior to, participation in the programme for the same patient cohort. RESULTS: The frequency of both emergency department presentations and hospital admissions was significantly reduced after participation in the programme. CONCLUSIONS: Provision of a respiratory outreach service that includes early discharge care, followed by education, telephone support and ongoing rapid access to out-patient clinics is associated with reduced readmission rates in COPD patients.Language
engISSN
1178-2005 (Electronic)1176-9106 (Linking)