Wake Forest University Health Sciences
This study investigates better ways to help people after they leave the hospital and how to involve their families in this process. The main goal is to see if adding family support to a patient-centered hospital-to-home intervention helps patients stay safely at home, spend fewer days back in the emergency room or going back into the hospital. The study team also wants to see if the family-centered approach helps improve the patient's ability to do everyday activities without feeling overwhelmed. Two approaches are being compared: one focuses just on the patient, and the other includes special strategies to better support families involved too. Family will be involved in assessing what the patient and family needs. The family-focused approach not only emphasizes the experience, health, and safety of the patient but also the experience of the family member caring for the older adult. The study also involves families in education and provides families skills-building experiences that can help with caregiving stress, problem-solving, and communicating with the healthcare team. The approach will help the family member prepare for their loved one's transition home and provide coaching with the goal of reducing the mental, physical and financial burden of providing care at home. To spread the intervention across many states, the study team will be using telephone calls, video calls, and other technologies as families prefer.
For all patients, the transition from hospital to home is a vulnerable period, placing them at great risk for adverse events. In a landmark 2003 report on care transitions, investigators found that 19% of patients experience adverse events soon after discharge (many preventable or ameliorable) and 66% experience adverse drug events. Care transitions also impact those around the recently discharged patient - increasing the burden on family members who provide caregiving support. Without communication and engagement in care transitions, family members experience reduced preparedness for their po…
Patient Inclusion Criteria: * 65 and older * English and Spanish speaking * Preadmission location: community dwelling * Distance from Hospital: Local and Distant (rural) included * Cognitive impairment, dementia allowed * Technology Literacy: Flexible from high to low * EPIC readmission risk score over 12 * Discharged home Patient Exclusion Criteria: * Admitted from skilled nursing facility * Discharged to skilled nursing facility * Left Against Medical Advice (AMA) * Planned readmission * Died during index admission * Caregiver unwilling to participate Caregiver Inclusion Criteria: * Adu…
Effective strategies focused on the patient such as patient needs assessment, multi-disciplinary discharge planning, discharge instructions, follow-up education, and follow-up assessments.
Caregiver strategies such as a family caregiver needs assessment, structured education, and skill building.