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Evaluating the Connect with Pharmacy web-based intervention to reduce hospital readmission for older people
Sabir, F.R.N. Tomlinson, Justine Strickland-Hodge, B. Smith, H.
Sabir, F.R.N.
Tomlinson, Justine
Strickland-Hodge, B.
Smith, H.
Publication Date
2019-10
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© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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openAccess
Accepted for publication
2019-07-27
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Abstract
Background The patient transition from a hospital to a post-discharge healthcare setting has potential to disrupt continuity of medication management and increase the risk of harm. “Connect with Pharmacy” is a new electronic web-based transfer of care initiative employed by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. This allows the sharing of discharge information between the hospital and a patient’s chosen community pharmacy. Objective We investigated whether the timely sharing of discharge information with community pharmacies via “Connect with Pharmacy” reduced hospital readmission rates in older patients. Method To evaluate intervention efficacy, hospital admission data was retrospectively collected. For primary analysis, admission rates were tracked 6-months prior (baseline) and 6-months post-intervention. Secondary measures included effect on total length of stay if readmitted, emergency department attendance and duration, and impact of polypharmacy. Main outcome measure The rate of non-elective hospital readmissions, 6-months post-intervention. Results In the sample (n = 627 patients; Mean age = 81 years), emergency readmission rates following the intervention (M = 1.1, 95% CI [0.98, 1.22]) reduced by 16.16% relative to baseline (M = 1.31, 95% CI [1.21, 1.42]) (W = 54,725; p < 0.001). There was no reduction in total length of stay. Subsidiary analysis revealed a post-intervention reduction in number of days spent in hospital lasting more than three days (χ2 = 13.37, df = 1, p < 0 .001). There were no statistically reliable differences in the remaining secondary measures. Conclusion The results showed a reduction in readmissions and potential post-intervention length of stay, indicating there may be further benefits for our older patients’ experiences and hospital flow.
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Published version
Citation
Sabir FRN, Tomlinson J, Strickland-Hodge B et al (2019) Evaluating the Connect with Pharmacy web-based intervention to reduce hospital readmission for older people. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy. 41(5): 1239-1246.
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Article