Running head: READMISSION RATES BASED ON DISCHARGE PLANNING 1
PHIL 447N READMISSION RATES BASED ON
DISCHARGE PLANNING| WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS
Readmission Rates Based on Discharge Planning
Michelle Wagner
Chamberlain College of Nursing
, Running head: READMISSION RATES BASED ON DISCHARGE PLANNING 2
Clinical Question
According to Medicare (2017), readmission rates are calculated by unplanned visits back
to the hospital within 30 days of the previous hospital stay. Based on that, patients with
congestive heart failure are one of the most leading causes of readmission rates within 30 days
(Rabbat et al, 2012). Since there is a fair amount of these patients being readmitted back to the
hospital, it brings on a major problem within the healthcare field for both the facility and the
patients themselves. The focus of this paper is to explain the importance of follow up phone calls
to these patients to help keep them on track with their treatment plan and to decrease the amounts
of readmission rates among this specific population.
The potential health outcomes from these patients is a lack of self-care, which leads them
back to their original habits that could have caused or exacerbated the heart failure (Lee, Tkacs,
& Riegel, 2009). Since we live in a world of fast food restaurants and sedentary lifestyles, it is
most prevailing that people can easily go back to eating out at restaurants, because it is easier
than cooking a well-balanced meal. That being said, because patients are so tempted to fall back
into old habits, it shows the significance of this problem. Once these patients are treated in the
hospital, they do not realize that they need to do more for themselves besides taking their
medications. Medications can help with their symptoms, but they will not see progress without
having adequate self-care. The PICOT question for this paper is, “Will follow up phone calls
improve treatment plan compliance in Heart Failure patients post discharge, over Heart Failure
patients who do not receive follow up phone calls post discharge?” This question will help figure
out the purpose of this paper, which is to find out how effective follow up care is to patients in
PHIL 447N READMISSION RATES BASED ON
DISCHARGE PLANNING| WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS
Readmission Rates Based on Discharge Planning
Michelle Wagner
Chamberlain College of Nursing
, Running head: READMISSION RATES BASED ON DISCHARGE PLANNING 2
Clinical Question
According to Medicare (2017), readmission rates are calculated by unplanned visits back
to the hospital within 30 days of the previous hospital stay. Based on that, patients with
congestive heart failure are one of the most leading causes of readmission rates within 30 days
(Rabbat et al, 2012). Since there is a fair amount of these patients being readmitted back to the
hospital, it brings on a major problem within the healthcare field for both the facility and the
patients themselves. The focus of this paper is to explain the importance of follow up phone calls
to these patients to help keep them on track with their treatment plan and to decrease the amounts
of readmission rates among this specific population.
The potential health outcomes from these patients is a lack of self-care, which leads them
back to their original habits that could have caused or exacerbated the heart failure (Lee, Tkacs,
& Riegel, 2009). Since we live in a world of fast food restaurants and sedentary lifestyles, it is
most prevailing that people can easily go back to eating out at restaurants, because it is easier
than cooking a well-balanced meal. That being said, because patients are so tempted to fall back
into old habits, it shows the significance of this problem. Once these patients are treated in the
hospital, they do not realize that they need to do more for themselves besides taking their
medications. Medications can help with their symptoms, but they will not see progress without
having adequate self-care. The PICOT question for this paper is, “Will follow up phone calls
improve treatment plan compliance in Heart Failure patients post discharge, over Heart Failure
patients who do not receive follow up phone calls post discharge?” This question will help figure
out the purpose of this paper, which is to find out how effective follow up care is to patients in
