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Relation of Stop and Watch Tool Use in a Skilled Nursing Facility to 30-day Hospital Transfer Rates

Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Background: Hospital readmissions in nursing home populations are rising every year.Little is known of how to prevent such hospital readmissions.The study's purpose was to explore the relation of communication on 30-day readmission rates via the Stop and Watch (SW) Tool with Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) in the Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers (INTERACT) program: a program implemented in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).Objectives: The objectives were: describe the relation of the INTERACT SW Tool Use among admission/readmission patients and correlate outcomes on 30-day hospital readmission rates.Design: Quality improvement project.Setting: 234-bed skilled nursing facility in a large Chicago urban area in the United States; 3-unit facility with 91% occupancy.Participants: Licensed/registered nurses (N = 11) and CNAs (N = 21) on SNF unit with 80 residents.Intervention: INTERACT protocol, including identification of admission patients; CNAs' daily monitoring of admission/readmission patients using the SW Tool; and licensed nurses' review of SW Tool daily reports and follow-ups.Measurements: SW Tool use from each day, evening, and night shift; number of transfers to hospitals for readmission; and communication between CNAs and licensed nurses measured as SW Tool leading to a Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR) communication form.Results: For the four-month study period, 30-day readmission rates in the study unit decreased to 34% from over 50% at baseline.Readmission rates were associated with consistent SW Tool use (p = .007,Pearson Correlation = -0.304).Conclusions: 30-day transfer rates are reduced by CNAs' consistent use of the SW Tool.
DOI: 10.14283/jnhrs.2016.16
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4291193138
FWCI:
Cites: 13
Cited by: 4
Related to: 10