Primary Reasons Leading to Re-Admissions in Hospitals
In the journey towards recovery, follow-up care visits are crucial to ensure that patients are on the right track and that discharge instructions are being followed correctly. Unfortunately, many patients face challenges in adhering to post-discharge care plans, leading to complications and potential readmissions.
One of the most common factors contributing to hospital readmissions is medication issues. These can range from patients skipping doses, taking incorrect medications, experiencing adverse reactions, or drug interactions. To tackle this, improved medication management is essential. This can be achieved through tools like smart packaging and reminders, such as DosePacker and DoseMinder, to reduce errors and improve adherence.
Infections and complications, such as wound infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and urinary tract infections (UTIs), are also common causes of readmissions. To prevent these, it's important for patients to clean and care for wounds properly, drink plenty of fluids, urinate frequently, and practice deep breathing and coughing.
Premature discharge and communication gaps can also lead to readmissions, particularly in intensive care settings. To avoid this, healthcare teams should work together to create detailed, patient-specific discharge instructions, including follow-up appointments and clear guidance on wound care, physical activity, and symptom monitoring.
Chronic conditions and comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and atrial fibrillation, also increase readmission risk. For these patients, timely specialist consultations and appropriate prescriptions can lower the risk of readmission.
Inadequate self-care or caregiver support post-discharge is another significant contributor to readmissions. To address this, patient and caregiver education is essential. Both parties should be engaged about the importance of self-care, medication adherence, and recognizing warning signs to seek timely medical help.
Prevention strategies also include enhanced communication and handover among healthcare teams during discharge, proactive monitoring and use of data analytics, and early specialist consultations and appropriate prescriptions for chronic conditions.
For seniors discharged from the hospital, the risk of falling due to weakness, dizziness, cognitive impairment, or the use of unfamiliar medical equipment is increased. Professional home care agencies, such as Home Care, can provide non-medical care to help seniors returning home from the hospital, including medication reminders, personal care, and transportation to appointments.
By addressing these factors through coordinated care, patient education, medication management, and technology support, many hospital readmissions can be prevented, improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. If you or a loved one requires post-hospital care, consider reaching out to Home Care, serving areas including Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, and Highland Park IL. A free in-home consultation is available by calling (224) 268-9068.
- For patients dealing with chronic medical-conditions such as chronic kidney disease or cardiovascular diseases, it's important to ensure timely specialist consultations and appropriate prescriptions from licensed caregivers to lower the risk of readmission.
- To prevent complications like pneumonia, sepsis, or urinary tract infections, patients should clean and care for wounds properly, drink plenty of fluids, urinate frequently, and practice deep breathing and coughing, following discharge instructions correctly.
- In cases where seniors face challenges with self-care post-discharge, professional home care agencies like Home Care can provide non-medical care including medication reminders, personal care, and transportation to appointments, reducing the risk of readmissions caused by inadequate care.
- Prevention strategies for hospital readmissions also involve enhanced communication and handover among healthcare teams during discharge, proactive monitoring and use of data analytics, and early specialist consultations and appropriate prescriptions for chronic conditions, as well as patient education on health-and-wellness practices and the importance of medication adherence.
