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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Telephone discharge support for frail, vulnerable older people discharged from hospital
— impact on readmission rates - participant and general practitioner feedback | | Author(s) | Claire P Heppenstall, Hugh C Hanger, Timothy J Wilkinson, Michelle Dhanak |
| Journal title | Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 37, no 2, June 2018 |
| Publisher | Wiley, June 2018 |
| Pages | pp 107-112 |
| Source | http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ajag |
| Keywords | Geriatric hospitals ; Discharge [hospitals] ; Discharged patients ; Aftercare ; Telephone services [domiciliary] ; Evaluation ; New Zealand. |
| Annotation | The objective of this study was to assess the use and acceptability to older participants and general practitioners (GPs) of telephone support post-discharge to reduce hospital readmissions. This was a prospective cohort study of older people after discharge from a specialist geriatric unit, and comparison with a previous cohort. Telephone follow-up calls were made fortnightly for three months. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain feedback from participants and GPs. At 40% readmission rates were high, despite the intervention. This rate had significantly increased since the earlier cohort. Almost one-fifth of the sample (19%) were readmitted before the first telephone call. Subsequent readmissions were not related to whether participants had reported deteriorating health during the preceding telephone call. Feedback on the intervention from both participants and GPs was supportive. Telephone follow-up as used in the study did not reduce readmission rates. However the service was well received and appreciated by participants. It is possible that the telephone calls were not made early enough or frequently enough to achieve the desired outcome. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180629201 A |
| Classmark | LDA: LD:QKJ: LFD: LN: OUA: 4C: 7YN |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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