Background: Timely post-discharge office visits reduce readmission risk, but the association between telemedicine follow-up visits and readmission in patients discharged from the medicine service remains unclear. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in telemedicine utilization for post-discharge follow-up, prompting questions about its association with readmission. Thus, our primary objective was to assess the [...]

Background: Delirium is a reversible condition that is common in hospitalized patients. Antipsychotics are often used to manage acute behavioral disturbances associated with hyperactive delirium. During transitions of care, plans to taper or discontinue these newly initiated antipsychotics can be unclear. As a result, these medications may be continued long-term, even as the acute episode [...]

Background: Effective discharge instructions are critical for safe patient transitions to outpatient care. However, patients may misunderstand the information they receive, particularly those with complex plans and limited English proficiency. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Solutions for Patient Safety recommend discharge instructions that outline the patient’s primary issue, care steps, signs of worsening, where [...]

Background: Among all hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus, about 40-50% require insulin at discharge. Insulin is a high-risk medication, associated with many errors including missed dosing, inaccurate dosing, or prescription of the wrong type of insulin. Many of these errors can occur during transitions of care including discharge and in patients with poor diabetes knowledge. [...]

Background: Hospitals across the nation are gripped with capacity constraints, and some hospitals have indicated they are operating at “Capacity Disaster” status. It is critical to identify solutions that are beneficial to both hospitals and patients. Destino (2019) indicated that early discharges help decrease emergency department and post-anesthesia care unit hospital bed times. The Reverse [...]

Background: Patients in Acute Medical care Units (AMUs) often encounter complex discharge processes due to rapid turnover and acute care demands. The Advanced Clinical Practice Nurse-led Discharge management and Education (ADIEU) program was developed to address these challenges and improve post-discharge outcomes. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ADIEU program [...]

Background: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) have a primary language other than English. During the hospital discharge process, patients with LEP may experience challenges communicating with members of the healthcare team and in our division, they have increased readmission rates and reported increased difficulty understanding discharge instructions compared to English proficient patients. Purpose: To [...]

Background: Critical to any health system’s mission is ensuring patients receive timely access to care. Continuity of care has been shown to decrease rates of ED utilization and hospitalizations and to improve patient satisfaction [1]. Providing patients with quick access to care following a hospital stay is a tenet of high-quality health care. A growing [...]

Background: Patients are often discharged from the hospital with active medical issues needing outpatient follow-up (AINF) – including recommended labs, imaging, procedures, follow-up appointments, and follow-up of incidental findings – but patients and their outpatient providers often fail to complete these recommended workups [1]. Primary care physicians strongly recommend that discharging providers include a brief [...]