Are unplanned readmissions to hospital really preventable?
- 1 December 1999
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Quality In Clinical Practice
- Vol. 19 (4), 211-214
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1762.1999.00334.x
Abstract
All John Hunter Hospital readmission data for October 1998 were examined. Twenty-four readmissions out of 3081 total admissions (0.8%) were defined as adverse events (unplanned readmissions) being nominally due to inappropriate medical management. The 24 adverse events comprised 5.5% of the 437 readmissions. A further five readmissions occurred because scheduled theatre was cancelled. Remaining readmissions were due to the condition of the patient in each case. Of the 16 highly preventable adverse events, 10 were allocated to the minor temporary category of severity. It is difficult to evaluate these readmission rates because there are no comparable findings in other Australian studies. The adverse events showed no particular association with patient age, sex, hospital of original admission or hospital specialty. While they were technically preventable, after medical record review a senior clinician identified these as extremely difficult cases, indicating that better outcomes may not have been possible.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Quality in Australian Health Care StudyThe Medical Journal of Australia, 1995
- A Study of Medical Injury and Medical MalpracticeThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1989