Key result
Among 1,343 patients discharged from a medical hospitalist unit, 16.0% visited the emergency department within 30 days, and 26.5% of these visits were considered unnecessary.
Why the study?
Unnecessary emergency department visits are crucial in discharge planning, but reasons for these visits after discharge from a medical hospitalist unit needed identification.
Observational (n=1,343)
No
A substantial proportion of short-term ED visits by discharged medical patients are unnecessary and could be prevented with thorough discharge planning and care transition.
May inform targeted discharge planning; leaves open whether interventions reduce unnecessary 30-day ED visits.
BACKGROUND: Unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits are a crucial consideration in discharge planning for acutely admitted patients. This study aimed to identify the reasons for unnecessary visits to the ED within 30 days of discharge from a medical hospitalist unit. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of patients discharged in 2018 from a medical unit of tertiary teaching hospital in Korea. The authors discussed in-depth and determined whether or not an ED visit was unnecessary, and further classified the causes of unnecessary visits into three categories. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 62.9 years (range, 15-99 years), and among the 1,343 patients discharged from the unit, 720 (53.6%) were men. Overall, 215 patients (16.0%) visited the ED within 30 days after discharge; among them, 16.3% were readmitted. Of the 215 cases of ED visits within 30 days after discharge, 57 (26.5%) were considered unnecessary. Of these, 30 (52.6%) were categorized as having failed care transition, 15 (26.3%) had unestablished care plans for predictable issues, and 12 (21.1%) had insufficient patient education. CONCLUSION: A substantial number of short-term ED visits by discharged multimorbid or older medical patients were considered unnecessary. Discharging patients with a thorough discharge plan is essential to avoid unnecessary ED visits.
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Kim et al. (2021) conducted an observational in Discharged from a medical hospitalist unit (n=1,343). Discharge from a medical hospitalist unit was evaluated on Emergency department visits within 30 days of discharge. Among 1,343 patients discharged from a medical hospitalist unit, 16.0% visited the emergency department within 30 days, and 26.5% of these visits were considered unnecessary.
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