Re-admissions to inpatient paediatric pulmonary rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
To describe re-admission rates, identify reasons for re-admission and examine characteristics of children requiring re-admission to inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation.


METHODS
Retrospective record review of infants and toddlers (less than three years of age) requiring oxygen or ventilator support discharged from an inpatient paediatric pulmonary rehabilitation programme between 1992 and 1999.


RESULTS
Forty-one initial admissions resulted in 45 readmissions with a mean re-admission rate of 1.1 (SD = 1.41) re-admissions per child. Children with re-admissions (n = 22, 54%) required significantly more ventilator support (p = 0.001) and nursing care (p = 0.001) and were transferred to acute care more frequently (p = 0.002) than children without re-admissions. One-half of the children re-admitted to inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation were re-admitted two or more times.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on this cohort of children, dependence on supplemental oxygen and/or mechanical ventilation and medical complexity may be indicators that children will require re-admission to rehabilitation following a transfer back to acute care. Further examination of re-admission rates and reasons and children's clinical characteristics may have predictive value and provide practice improvement opportunities.
Cushman
Douglas G
DG
Kindred Hospital-Boston, 1515 Commonwealth Avenue, Brighton, MA 02135, USA. douglas.cushman@verizon.net
Dumas
Helene M
HM
Haley
Stephen M
SM
O'Brien
Jane E
JE
Kharasch
Virginia S
VS
D001900:Boston; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010360:Patient Transfer; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012138:Respiratory Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies