Hospital discharge process and subsequent continuity of care, and associated patient health outcomes
| Discharge summary (n=2) | Discharge instructions documented in medical records (n=2) | Drug-related problems at hospital discharge (n=4) | Transition from hospital to home (n=5) | Continuity of care after hospital discharge (n=7) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Significant association | ||||
| Al-Damluji et al67* (readmissions at 30 days) | VanSuch et al51* (time to readmission for HF/any cause at 12 months) | Al-Rashed et al63† (readmissions at 15–22 days and 3 months; unplanned GP visits at 15–22 days and 3 months) | Anderson et al65† (readmission rate at 6 months) | Grafft et al55* (composite end point: ED visits or readmissions at 180 days) |
| Li et al58* (readmission rate at 7 and 28 days) | Dudas et al59† (ED visits at 30 days) | Balaban et al61† (no follow-up at 21 days) | Hernandez et al50* (composite end point: mortality or readmissions at 30 days; readmissions at 30 days) | |
| Dedhia et al66† (composite end point: ED visits or readmissions at 1 week; readmissions at 30 days) | Moore et al52* (work-up errors and readmissions at 3 months) | |||
| Jack et al62† (composite end point: all ED visits and readmissions at 30 days; ED visits at 30 days; visited PCP at 30 days) | van Walraven et al53* (composite end point: death or readmissions at 30 days) | |||
| Non-significant association | ||||
| Jha et al31* (readmission rate at 30 days) | Dudas et al59† (readmissions at 30 days) | Balaban et al61† (readmissions at 31 days; ED visits at 31 days; incomplete outpatient work-up) | Grafft et al55* (composite end point: ED visits or readmissions at 30 days; readmissions at 30 days; ED visits at 30 days; mortality at 30 days; readmissions at 180 days, mortality at 180 days) | |
| VanSuch et al51* (survival time to death from any cause censored at 12 months) | Schnipper et al60† (composite end point: ED visits or readmissions at 30 days) | Bell et al54*‡ (readmissions at 30 days; ED visits at 30 days; death at 30 days; composite end point: readmission or ED visit or death at 30 days) | Hernandez et al50* (mortality at 30 days) | |
| Walker et al64† (readmission rate at 14 and 30 days; ED visits at 72 hours, 14 days, 30 days; composite end point: all ED visits and readmissions at 30 days) | Dedhia et al66† (ED visits at 30 days) | Kashiwagi et al56* (readmissions at 30 days) | ||
| Jack et al62† (readmissions at 30 days) | Moore et al52* (medication continuity errors, test follow-up errors and readmissions at 3 months) | |||
| Soong et al68† (ED visits at 30 days; readmissions at 30 days) | ||||
| van Walraven et al57*‡ (death at 6 months; readmissions at 6 months) | ||||
*Observational study.
†Interventional study.
‡Study also exploring discharge summary component.
ED, emergency department; GP, general practitioner; HF, heart failure; PCP, primary care provider.