title: Pharmacy-Initiated Transitions of Care Services: An Opportunity to Impact Patient Satisfaction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A transitions of care program at an academic teaching hospital was designed to reengineer the fragmented discharge process. The team included a pharmacy technician, called a transition specialist, who coordinated the medication needs of discharging patients. This study intends to assess the impact of the transitions of care program on patient satisfaction scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two datasets of Press Ganey and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (HCAHPS) were analyzed. Patients eligible for inclusion were age 18 years or older and successfully discharged from the study facility. All participants received usual care by a servicebased pharmacist, medication counseling by a nurse prior to discharge, and other standard of care services by the inpatient medical team. The intervention group received the previously stated usual care plus services by the transitions of care program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results from HCAHPS scores proved inconclusive. The results from the Press Ganey dataset found that the surgery transplant service demonstrated statistically significant improvement for satisfaction scores, and they warrant further review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results demonstrate that HCAHPS metrics do not correlate with the successes or lack thereof of the transitions of care program. Press Ganey might be a potential surrogate marker for assessing the impact of this program. This study is the first to qualitatively evaluate pharmacy transitions of care service using patient satisfaction scores.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Manager, Novant Health , Kernersville, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Reichard
authors.affiliation: Associate Director of Pharmacy, The University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics , Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.affiliation: Associate Director of Pharmacy, The University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Eckel
keywords: hospital pharmacy; patient satisfaction; transitions of care