Why It Is Important to Reduce Readmissions

If you are reading this, you may be interested in having a healthcare career.

If that’s the case, we salute you. CAREER HEALTH SERVICES ACADEMY LLC is a center for healthcare training in Pelham, Alabama, that provides prospective care practitioners with the tools they need to succeed in the care field for their own sake and that of the people they serve.

Today, we would want to talk about a key part of nursing objectives: reducing the risk of readmission.

At first, it sounds counter-intuitive. Surely, as a patient care technician or a medical assistant in Alabama, we should not stop patients from returning to receive the care they need.

But readmissions present a dilemma for both care providers and recipients. According to a paper titled “Reducing Hospital Readmission: Current Strategies and Future Directions,” the growing rate of patients returning to hospitals indicates a failure to achieve appropriate patient outcomes. There may be a fault in the administration of care, the evaluation of care plans, or post-hospital maintenance, leading to relapse in the patient’s condition.

The prevalence of this phenomenon has given rise to a condition called “post-hospital syndrome.” This describes a general condition of heightened susceptibility to complications caused by the stress and trauma of having one’s life interrupted by hospitalization. It has led to an increase in the risk of health events that drastically reduce the quality of life of patients.

We must also take into account that readmission incurs increased costs for both patients and providers. Care facilities are often fined for an increase in readmissions to encourage proactive action.

Patient education, medication reconciliation, phone follow-ups, timely outpatient appointments, and improving staffing are all steps to address this problem. To that end, we strive to equip future nurses with the necessary knowledge and skills to respond to evolving healthcare needs.

If you are an aspiring care practitioner, as a certified nursing assistant or phlebotomist, complete your training with us.