Reducing 30-Day Readmission for Congestive Heart Failure

Reducing 30-Day Readmission For CHF Patients Quality Improvement Focusing on Medication Reconciliation Abstract Heart failure is a huge healthcare burden that contributes to the hospitalization and readmission of many people. The treatment of this condition involves pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. Clinicians prescribe several medications to the patients to improve their health. Multiple medications, however, increase the risk of medication errors. The errors, in turn, affect the health outcome of patients leading to high 30-day readmission rates and prolonged stay in the hospital. Literature shows that many hospitals report 30-day readmission rates of between 14% and 20%.

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REDUCING 30-DAY READMISSION RATES

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Healthcare leaders agree that these rates are higher than the accepted rates and suggest the need to implement appropriate measures to reduce them. Higher readmission rates depict the poor outcome of care contrary to the universal healthcare objectives. Reducing the 30-day readmission rates has been a priority for many hospitals, clinicians, researchers, and healthcare stakeholders. Evidence on strategies used by clinicians to achieve this objective is limited. While evidence-based therapies for congestive heart failure have proliferated, their implementation and integration onto practice to improve quality, safety, and care outcomes remain areas for continued investigation and improvement. This paper proposes implementing a medication reconciliation protocol as a practical strategy for lowering the 30-day readmission rates of the target population. This project involves using a checklist to remind physicians to perform medication reconciliations when dealing with CHF patients. The proposed project will be conducted in three months and the participants will be nurse practitioners serving congestive heart failure clients. The project's main deliverable is a reduction in medication errors among CHF patients. The nurse practitioners will compare the pre-and post-intervention medication errors to determine the effectiveness of the checklist.