Project Research Proposal for Hospital Readmission

Introduction

In essence, it is estimated that at least 20 percent of all the patients who are often admitted to various hospitals will make a repeat visit within a month after their discharge. Apparently, this is according to different Medicare that has done a various study on the pervasive problem of hospital readmission. In a year Medicare estimates to be spending at least $15 billion on rehospitalization. The cost rose to $17.4 billion in recent times as reported by the body. Apart from the cost, readmission has caused a lot of distress and dissatisfaction among patients who have to deal with repeated comebacks to the hospitals. These problems have led to the enactment of the hospital's readmissions reduction program act under section 3008(a) that was designed to improve the patient care and reduce the cost. This paper is, therefore, a project proposal of discharge education programs as a solution to the high rate of patient readmission.

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Literature Review

Mary Danner a safety consultant with the AIG casualty risk consulting agency affirms through her research that readmission is typical in almost all states of the US but is high in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. Since 2012 hospitals have witnessed a 1 percent reduction in most costly diagnosis such as pneumonia, acute myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure. Primarily, this has largely been contributed by the inpatient prospective payment system (Coleman &Mary, 1826).

However, patients with a non-costly diagnosis such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and hip/knee replacement have climbed up with a 3 percent increase in the rate of readmission. She estimates that approximately 2600 hospitals nationwide will lose a combined amount of $420 million dollars as a result of readmission and penalties. Apart from the AIG consultant, the Yale school of public health in their research participated in a national program with a mission to identify the best three strategies that are likely to effectively reduce the rate of readmission. In their findings, they concluded that strategies such as educating the patients during discharge had a 26.5 percent boost of success compared to all other strategies because it could work across all ages and patients (Hansen, 1524). The other two strategies were conducting patient follow up calls and improving communication between the hospital management and patients, they had 20.2 percent and 18.4 percent boost chances of successfully reducing the rate of readmission respectively. Krames patient education, on the other hand, resolves that through patient education connection, patients are likely to have a clear understanding of after hospital instructions and will be 30 percent less likely to readmit. The sources were instrumental in reaffirming that the patient education program was going to be instrumental in reducing the rate of patient readmission.

Project Research Methodology

For this project, a random survey can be conducted in a quantitative manner. A quantitative method is deemed to be suitable for this research because it makes it easy to collect data through questionnaires and manipulate the data using various techniques. Two variables can be tested against each other, that is, the dependent and independent variable. The dependent variable, in this case, is the general outcome of the research or reduced rate of readmission. The independent variable, on the other hand, is starting discharge education during discharge. The time period for the project research can be one month before embarking on the project itself. The test should be conducted on a sample of 30 patients all elderly with a specific similar disease such congestive heart failure within the age bracket of 70-90 (Vinson & McNamara, 1292). Since the readmission rate is given a duration of 30 days it was necessary to have a sample number that is equal or around the estimated duration of readmission. Two control groups can then be formed all chosen from any unit such as the cardiac unit. The first group formed can then be administered with the discharge education program starting at admission while the other group can be given the discharge education during discharge.

The purpose of the two controls is simply to determine what specific situation the readmission rate is likely to reduce significantly. The team members for the research educates the patients both starting and during the admission and further make follow up calls as per the research objectives. They will be asked to leave their telephone numbers in order to track them to assess the success of the research. To add on the tracking of the patient's telephones, after research survey will also be conducted on the patients through questionnaires to reaffirm the accuracy of the test. Within the three months, the number of patients who comes back for readmission will be counted and the results tabled down for data analysis. A statistical mathematical computation can be used to determine the probability of the reduction. The statistical method to show the probability test chosen for the research can be chi-square. One will easily notice the rate at which patient readmission is likely to reduce through the patient education program.

Discussion

Any hospital or organization intending to start this project is recommended to have an accurate research as discussed earlier. Based on the literature review this project is likely to reduce the rate of patient readmission by close to 52 percent. It is however very important to follow keenly through the steps of a project cycle in order to ensure an effective and long lasting project, such include project initiation, project planning, project execution and project closure. Project initiation and project execution are very critical to the success of the project. With regards to this project, its execution will involve coming up with a comprehensive budget and training of the educators on the subject. The two are very important in ensuring hospitals come up with a long-term individual based solution to the problem of readmission. This is considered the best solution to the issue at hand because of its numerous advantages which include low cost, a short period for completion as it can be done quarterly, only requires human resources hence no material, and can be traced with regards to its success. Hospitals will also benefit from external advantages such as reduced hospital congestions and high rate of patients awareness of the hospital's policies. A process such as a diagnosis and treatment will also be fast and effective.

Conclusion

The patient high rate of readmission is one of the huge challenges affecting service delivery at different hospitals in the contemporary society, particularly in the United States. This paper has therefore proposed one effective way of addressing the issue. Patient education programs as a project have been tested to be very effective just as analyzed in the literature review. Any hospital experiencing such problems is encouraged to consider this project as a possible solution.

Works Cited

Coleman, Eric A., et al. "The care transitions intervention: results of a randomized controlled trial." Archives of internal medicine 166.17 (2016): 1822-1828.

Hansen, Luke O., et al. "Interventions to reduce 30-day prehospitalization: a systematic review." Annals of internal medicine 155.8 (2011): 520-528.

Vinson, Janice M., et al. "Early readmission of elderly patients with congestive heart failure." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 38.12 (2013): 1290-1295.