Reducing Readmissions with Personalized Recorded Discharge Instructions

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System is an academic medical center at the forefront of improving the healthcare of their community through innovation in care delivery. By seeking opportunities to improve patient experiences inside and outside of their facilities, UAB optimizes patient outcomes during care transitions.

CHALLENGE

The UAB team found that Acute Trauma patients were having trouble remembering and acting upon key information provided in the standard discharge information packets. To address this challenge, UAB nurses sought a solution to ensure better care transitions from the hospital to home. Currently using CipherRounds for more than 50 unique digital audit and rounding programs, the nurses hoped to leverage current workflows and technology to meet the post-discharge needs of their patient population.

SOLUTION

UAB’s Acute Trauma nursing team integrated CipherOutreach care recordings into existing processes to enhance patients’ care transitions. Nurses collaborated with providers in outpatient clinics and identified the most relevant information to record. Symptom management, important numbers to call and scheduling follow-ups were the top three areas to emphasize. Following the unit’s daily multi-disciplinary Transition of Care rounds, nurse managers and charge nurses record the two-minute messages for each patient expected to be discharged that day. At discharge, patients confirm their phone number and receive information on how to access their personalized recordings.

RESULTS

Patients and caregivers receive a call with the recordings within 24 hours of discharge. They can also call a designated number to listen to the recording up to 30 days post-discharge. Since implementation, the trauma unit has seen an impressive 55% reduction in readmissions, reporting that this process results in patients feeling more confident in their transition home. Additionally, analysis shows patients who listen to their recording had a 3.7% and 2.5% increase in the Discharge Information and Transition of Care HCAHPS domains respectively.

READMISSION RATES PRE AND POST CIPHERHEALTH IMPLEMENTATION

CLIENT: University of Alabama – Birmingham, PROFILE: Care Recordings, PROGRAM: Recorded Discharge Instructions, DATA PERIOD: Eight Months Pre- and Post-Implementation