Hospital Re-admission Rates on Heart attacks, Heart failure & Pneumonia

Hospital Re-admission Rates on Heart attacks, Heart failure & Pneumonia

Literature Review

Pneumonia

There has been an increase in the awareness of the healthcare costs associated with the readmission of patients after a very short period of time. The implications of the economic slowdown and decreasing jobs in United States have resulted in decreased disposal income that Americans can spend on healthcare. According to a research, as much as 20% of all the patients that are discharged from hospital have to be readmitted in the hospital within 30 days. However, there is a lack of research data as to if the costs associated with readmission of patients could be avoided (Hasan et.al. 2009, p211).

Hasan et.al. (2009) conducted a comprehensive research to study the phenomenon in a variety of diseases and hospitals. They conducted the research on patients who were being discharged from the Veterans Affairs hospital and two hospitals in the United Kingdom. The researchers were able to gather important data from the hospital management systems. This data was used to develop important trends and themes in the readmission of the patients. The complex selection of the hospital allowed the researchers to develop prediction models that could be used to assess the impact of important factors like social support on readmission risk.

The research was conducted in six different medical centers from 2001 to 2003 in selected hospitals of United States and United Kingdom. The sample size was selected based on age and only adult patients were included in the research. The researchers conducted 15-20 minute interviews with the patients who were being readmitted in the hospitals. These interviews were conducted after the patient was stabilized, which took around two days time. The same patient was interviewed via telephone 30 days post discharge from the hospital. During their research effort 10946 patients were interviewed out of which 5.1% had 32.6% and 28.6% 30-day readmission rate.

The researchers were able to find many patient-level factors that work as the predictors for the re-admission of the patient during the coming year after being discharged from the hospital. Factors like marital status and continuously consulting with a physician were found to be positively linked with the readmission risk of the patient. A supportive and caring family results in decreasing the chances for the patient to be admitted in the hospital for the same illness in the future.

Pneumonia acquired from the community (CAP) is perhaps among the most common medical condition in the United States. It costs the American economy around $9 billion annually, yet it is the most common reason for the mortality of the patients (Eurich 2009, p498). Medical professionals have realized the need for preparing an index to differentiate between the various factors that lead to pneumonia. However, the pneumonia severity index (PSI) which is considered to provide a complete and validated index for the severity of the patient's illness by, does not incorporate important values of dysglycaemia.

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