Nursing home procedures on transitions of care.
OBJECTIVE
To identify nursing home standards through a nationwide survey of directors of nursing regarding transitions of care for residents transferred from acute care hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).


METHODS
A national survey was distributed online and was completed by 241 directors of nursing of SNFs. The directors of nursing were asked about communication methods, transfer of records, and staff involvement with admissions from acute care hospitals.


RESULTS
The results of the survey demonstrated widespread use of an admission coordinator in the nursing home to direct admissions to the facility. Admission nurses consistently had the most responsibility for ascertaining the correct medication regimen on admission to the facility. Although there was a variation in types of records received from the hospitals, more than 80% received medication administration record or discharge/transfer sheet within 1hour of a patient's arrival.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this survey demonstrate that although direct verbal communication is not the norm, communication via paper documentation of transfer information is highly common. There was a statistically significantly increased likelihood of the SNF receiving the discharge/transfer sheet and the last medication list when it was directly affiliated with the transferring hospital. These affiliations would increase as a result of proposed payment changes that would bundle Medicare Part A acute hospital payments with the SNF payment.
Lester
Paula
P
Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA. PLester@Winthrop.org
Stefanacci
Richard G
RG
Chen
Ding-Geng
DG
D003142:Communication; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006270:Health Facility Administrators / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016344:Medicare Part A / Q000191:economics; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014164:Transfer Agreement / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States