Nurse-Led Call After Discharge Doesn’t Cut Peds Urgent Care

MONDAY, Sept. 10, 2018 — A one-time nurse-led telephone call does not decrease the 30-day reutilization rate of urgent health care services in children discharged from the hospital, according to a study published in the Sept. 4 issue of JAMA: Pediatrics.

Katherine A. Auger, M.D., of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues assessed the effects of a post-discharge telephone call on reutilization events for pediatric urgent health care services. A total of 966 children admitted to general medicine services were randomly assigned to a post-discharge telephone call within four days of discharge (intervention group) or standard discharge (control group). Other measures included parental recall of important clinical information at 14 days and overall transition success.

The researchers found no difference between the intervention and control groups in 30-day reutilization rates for urgent health care services (15.9 and 13.1 percent, respectively; P = 0.21). Parents of children in the intervention group recalled more clinical warning signs than parents in the control group (mean, 1.8 versus 1.5).

“Although post-discharge nurse contact did not decrease the reutilization rate of post-discharge urgent health care services, this method shows promise to bolster post-discharge education,” the authors write.

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Posted: September 2018

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