READI (Readiness Evaluation And Discharge Interventions) Study

Marquette University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Discharge Transition of Patients Discharged to Home

Treatments: Other: RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol; Other: RN-RHDS + PT-RHDS + NIAF; Other: RN-RHDS protocol

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01873118

ANCC2013-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

Preparation of patients for discharge is a primary function of hospital-based nursing care and readiness for discharge is an important outcome of hospital care. Inadequacies in discharge preparation have been well-documented and linked to difficulty with self-management after hospital discharge and with increased likelihood of emergency department (ED) use and readmission. Prior studies by the research team have led to recommendations for implementation of discharge readiness assessment as a standard nursing practice for hospital discharge.

The investigators will conduct a multi-site study to determine the impact on post-discharge utilization (readmission and ED visits) and costs of implementing discharge readiness assessment as a standard nursing practice for adult medical-surgical patients discharged to home. The study tests, in a stepped approach, the impact of implementing discharge readiness assessment by the discharging nurse as standard nursing practice (RN-RHDS protocol), the incremental value of informing the nurse assessment with the patient's perspective (RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol), and of requiring that the nurse initiates and documents risk-mitigating actions for patients with low readiness scores (RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS+NIAF protocol).

HYPOTHESIS 1: Patients discharged using the RN-RHDS protocol will have fewer hospital readmissions and ED visits within 30 days post-discharge compared to patients discharged under usual care conditions.

HYPOTHESIS 2: Patients discharged using the RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol will have fewer hospital readmissions and ED visits within 30 days post-discharge compared to patients discharged using the RN-RHDS protocol.

HYPOTHESIS 3: Patients discharged by nurses using the RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol plus a Nurse-Initiated Action Form [NIAF] (RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS+NIAF protocol) will have fewer post-discharge readmissions and ED visits than patients discharged using the RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol; the effect will be strongest for patients with low RHDS scores.

Aim 4: Conduct cost-benefit analysis of implementing discharge readiness assessment as standard practice, by comparing cost-savings from reduced post-discharge utilization against implementation costs.

Enrollment: 189,796 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Medical, surgical, or medical-surgical nursing units of Magnet designated hospitals
• Patients 18 years of age or more, English speaking,able to read and understand consent who are being discharged to home as the discharge destination.
• Nursing personnel (Registered Nurses or Licensed Practical Nurses) who are performing discharge instructions and procedures on the day of hospital discharge.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients discharged to home with hospice care.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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189,796 participants in 2 patient groups

Usual Care Control hospital unit

No Intervention group

Description:

This study involves implementation of interventions across entire hospital units. This arm is a usual care control unit paired to the intervention unit.

implementation unit

Experimental group

Description:

3 implementation protocols implemented sequentially: 1. RN-RHDS: implementation of discharge readiness assessment by the discharging nurse 2. RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS: implementation of discharge readiness assessment by the discharging nurse which is informed by patient self-assessment of discharge readiness 3. RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS+NIAF: implementation of discharge readiness assessment by the discharging nurse which is informed by patient self-assessment of discharge readiness followed by documentation of nurse actions initiated in response to the assessment. Nurse are instructed that action must be taken if any assessment item scores less than 7 ( on a 10 point scale).

Treatment:

Other: RN-RHDS+PT-RHDS protocol

Other: RN-RHDS + PT-RHDS + NIAF

Other: RN-RHDS protocol