title: Effects of a health-social partnership transitional program on hospital readmission: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: Hospital readmission is an indicator of care quality. Studies have been conducted to test whether post-discharge transitional care programs can reduce hospital readmission, but results are not conclusive. The contemporary development of post-discharge support advocates a health and social partnership approach. There is a paucity of experimental studies examining the effects of such efforts. This study designed a health-social transitional care management program (HSTCMP) and subjected it to empirical testing using a randomized controlled trial in the medical units of an acute general hospital with 1700 beds in Hong Kong during the period of February 2009 to July 2010. Results using per-protocol analysis revealed that the HSTCMP significantly reduced readmission at 4-weeks (study 4.0%, control 10.2%, χ(2) = 7.98, p = 0.005). The intention-to-treat result also showed a lower readmission rate with the study group but the result was not significant (study 11.5%, control 14.7%, χ(2) = 1.53, p = 0.258). There was however significant improvement in quality of life, self-efficacy and satisfaction in the study group in both per-protocol and intention-to-treat analyses. The study suggests that a health-social partnership, using volunteers as substitutes for some of the professional care, may be effective for general medical patients.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. hsfwong@inet.polyu.edu.hk
authors.forename: Frances Kam-yuet
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: May M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Sikying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Stanley K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D019058:Community Networks; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000639:trends*; D011788:Quality of Life; D020377:Self Efficacy