Abstract

Excessive healthcare costs resulted in the advent of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, where hospitals incur financial penalties for high readmission rates. This suburban hospital reported readmission rates of 10.38% in 2020 and 9.03% in 2021, much higher than the desired Vizient national benchmark of 6.83% or the twenty-fifth percentile. A literature review revealed that using the teach-back method alone or with other discharge activities can reduce hospital readmissions. This project tackled the quality
issue of high readmission rates by addressing patient education at discharge. The quality improvement project translated the use of the teach-back method for patient education into the hospital acute care setting using a pre-test, intervention, and post-test design. The project population consisted of a convenience sample of registered nurses from one acute care medical unit at the suburban hospital. Statistical analysis using the SPSS Version 28.0 for Windows included Spearman rank-order correlations, Pearson chi-square tests, and paired-samples t-tests. The paired-samples t-tests revealed a statistically significant difference in confidence, the Conviction and Confidence Scale scores improved for importance and confidence in using the teach-back method, and a readmission rates Run Chart showed a five-point downward trend after implementation. Incorporating the teach-back method into daily nursing practice can impact readmission rates positively.

Author Details

Rebel L. Heasley, DNP, MHA/MSN, RN, NE-BC, CHPN

Sigma Membership

Delta Theta

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quality Improvement

Research Approach

Translational Research/Evidence-based Practice

Keywords:

Readmissions, Rehospitalizations, Hospital Discharge, Patient Education

Advisor

Donna L. Hamby

Second Advisor

Marian R. Taylor

Third Advisor

Tamara L. Eades

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

The University of Texas at Arlington

Degree Year

2022

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2023-06-07

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