HOSPITAL READMISSION 1

Reducing Hospital Readmissions for the Elderly

Tania Machin Triguero

St. Thomas University

NUR-420-AP4 Community Health Nursing

Professor Cassandre Milien

March 28, 2021

HOSPITAL READMISSION 2

Reducing Hospital Readmissions for the Elderly

The world exists as an interconnection of individual systems, each working towards

attaining a specific goal while all must also function independently. One of the most crucial

systems is the health care system that has continued to be overpopulated due to unplanned

readmission of the elderly in hospitals (Facchinetti et al., 2020). The growing population visiting

hospitals that end in readmission has continued to raise concerns in the stakeholders. This essay

attempts to address the growing number of older people in hospitals while incorporating

interventions that can be used to suggest possible solutions to help flatten the curve. Also, this

paper aims to suggest measures that can be used to reduce hospital visits for elderly individuals

by suggesting possible alternatives and the importance of follow-up visits with healthcare

providers. Research suggests that home-based care is the optimal solution to the growing number

of hospital readmissions, especially for the elderly population. A few common diagnoses for

readmission of the elderly includes falls due to immobility or gait imbalance, urinary tract

infections, and cancer. Research shows that up to 21% of hospitalizations with one of these

diagnoses mentioned have higher chances of readmission.

Multiple research studies have been conducted, both randomized and controlled clinical

trials to identify which intervention would be most effective in reducing hospital readmission of

the elderly. To assess quality, research including tables and text to offer a possible explanation of

which methods are the most effective and a further explanation as to why alternative methods are

not feasible. A possible explanation of the common diagnosis is that the healthcare system is

multidimensional. Focusing on one diagnosis to reduce readmission is unlikely to be successful

because the admission index varies in different diagnoses.

HOSPITAL READMISSION 3

The rising concern about the readmission rates also considers the quality of care being

delivered in hospitals. Many believe that hospitals can only be accountable for what happens in

the first week after discharge and readmissions after that period do not reflect the role played by

hospitals after discharge but rather problems with self-management, lack of community

resources or the development of new problems that are beyond the control of hospitals care.

There are certain quality measures that can provide valid results on a hospitals' performance that

reflect the quality of services and patient centered care. Hospitals are struggling to keep their

rates of readmissions afloat due to readmission penalties (Shebehe & Hansson, 2018).

Readmission penalties are imposed considering a three-year performance of the hospitals.

Therefore, the financial benefit of reducing readmissions can only be achieved if hospitals

maintain a constant general reduction of the number of elderly patients being readmitted.

The elderly population plays a pivotal role in our society and it is essential to keep an

updated record of their sicknesses and the interventions that have been proven to work. Hospitals

are in pursuit of increasing the quality of care, leading to an overall reduction of readmissions for

all ages including the elderly. Some of the possible remedies to decrease the number of

readmissions of the elderly include close monitoring of the transition from hospital to home-

based care. It is also important to implement the need for an informed medical reconciliation

with the patient’s primary healthcare provider, increase the follow up visits with the provider and

plan all referral to specialist pertinent to the patient and the chronic condition as well as the role

of ambulatory services in transporting the patients (Bach et al., 2018). We can also investigate

the family situation and assess if the patient needs home laboratory service and home care

service to improve the treatment regimen and the consistency on the patient’s care.
HOSPITAL READMISSION 4

References

Bach, Q. N., Peasah, S. K., & Barber, E. (2018). Review of the Role of the Pharmacist in

Reducing Hospital Readmissions. Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 32(6), 617–624.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0897190018765500.

Facchinetti, G., D’Angelo, D., Piredda, M., Petitti, T., Matarese, M., Oliveti, A., & De Marinis,

M. G. (2020). Continuity of care interventions for preventing hospital readmission of

older people with chronic diseases: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Nursing

Studies, 101, 103396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103396.

Shebehe, J., & Hansson, A. (2018). High hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years

associated with low socioeconomic status in a Swedish region: a cross-sectional study in

primary care. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 36(3), 300–307.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2018.1499584.