Unplanned Readmission to Hospital
After a successful hospital stay, the most important task for patients, families and staff is preparing for a successful discharge home. It is disappointing for everyone if a patient requires an unexpected readmission into hospital.
Tracking the number of patients who experience unplanned readmissions to Knox Private Hospital after a previous hospital stay is one way that we can judge the quality of hospital care. One example of an unplanned readmission would be someone who is readmitted to the hospital for a surgical wound infection that occurred after his or her initial hospital stay.
It is important to note that unplanned hospital readmissions may or may not be related to the previous visit, and some unplanned readmissions are not preventable. Good discharge plans can help reduce the rate of unplanned readmissions by giving patients the care instructions they need after a hospital stay and by helping patients recognise symptoms that may require immediate medical attention.
This graph shows the percentage of patients admitted to Knox Private Hospital that have required an unexpected and unplanned readmission to hospital within 28 days of their first admission. The rate for the past 3 years is shown in the blue bars. This is compared to the rate of “unplanned readmission” in other Australian hospitals (the grey bar).
The graph shows that patients admitted to Knox Private Hospital are more likely to have an unplanned readmission compared with other Australian hospitals. However the rate has been investigated and has decreased in the past 12 months.
There is a limitation to this data. Currently no unique patient identifier exists that would allow us to measure unplanned readmissions to a different hospital. Therefore the unplanned readmission rates presented in this graph represent patients re-admitted to the same hospital only.
What we are doing to further reduce unplanned readmission rates
Improvement strategies may vary depending on the reasons for the readmission to hospital. Strategies include:
- Reviewing each case of readmission to check if there were any preventable factors
- Checking each patient’s risk for readmission
- Using a consistent process for discharging patients, that includes making sure patients understand their medications and other instructions
- Arranging prompt follow up care and ongoing appointments, eg. with Physiotherapist and General Practitioner