Better discharge process could reduce rehospitalizations, MU research finds
COLUMBIA – Throughout her career, Lori Popejoy provided hands-on clinical care in settings from hospitals and nursing homes to community centers.
Popejoy became interested in care coordination, as patients who are cared for poorly after a hospital discharge often end up being readmitted in a worse state of health.
Now a University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing associate professor, Popejoy and her research team conducted how best to discharge patients from nursing homes using the Re-Engineered Discharge program. The program aims to help hospitals do a better job of discharging patients.
Popejoy started the program in mid-Missouri nursing homes with two strategies: one nursing home team received all of the training in a one-day workshop and the other group received training over the course of a few months. She found both strategies successfully improved the quality of care after patients had been discharged, but the group receiving the training more gradually saw greater buy…