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Education for Patients and Caregivers to Reduce 30-day Readmissions into Acute Care

Submission Date

5-15-2022

Document Type

Entry Level Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

First Mentor

Christy Lulinski

Abstract

The purpose of this capstone project was to reduce 30-day readmissions of patients into the acute care setting by developing, enhancing, and implementing education materials for patients and their caregivers during occupational therapy treatment sessions. Patients who experience unplanned readmissions into acute care within 30 days are subjected to disruption in occupations, functional decline, occupational deprivation, and role strain and stress on caregivers and families. All patients with occupational therapy orders from a physician that matched certain criteria received this treatment. However, only readmission rates for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure (HF), pneumonia, and cerebrovascular accident (CVA) were recorded due to these patients being the most susceptible to being readmitted within 30 days. At the beginning of this capstone project, 30-day readmission rates for all targeted patients with these diagnoses were above the expected rates for 30-day readmissions compared to national averages. At the end of this capstone project, 30-day readmission rates for COPD and CVA were within the expected readmission rates. Thirty-day readmission rates for HF and pneumonia remained above the expected rates.

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