Thinking “outside-the-box,” a researcher from the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University has developed an innovative yet simple and inexpensive approach that could have a dramatic impact on health care cost savings, morbidity and quality of life for residents in nursing homes across the country.
Using a guide developed for nursing home residents and their families, FAU’s College of Nursing, Barry University in Miami Shores, and The Larkin Health System in Miami have joined forces to launch a pilot program in seven South Florida nursing homes for a much-needed initiative to help avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions.
With the support of a $677,000 grant from The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Ruth Tappen, Ed.D., R.N., FAAN, Christine E. Lynn Eminent Scholar in Nursing in FAU’s College of Nursing and her team developed a hospital transfer guide, “Go to the Hospital or Stay Here? A Decision Guide for Patients and Families.”
Prior to development of this guide, little attention was paid to the role residents and their families play in avoiding potentially preventable hospital transfers. Studies have shown that their insistence on going to the hospital accounts for as much as 15 to 18 percent of these admissions. Furthermore, it is commonplace that medical providers will not refuse to transfer the nursing home resident to the hospital if the resident or a family member insists.
This guide provides residents and families with vital information to help them make informed decisions about whether or not a transfer to the hospital is necessary. Explaining the risks and benefits of treatment in long-term care versus transfer to the hospital, this guide was developed based on interviews with 271 residents, family members and care providers.