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Impact of follow-up calls from the pediatric emergency department on return visits within 72 hours: a randomized
Ran D Goldman1, Julia J Wei, John Cheyne
1From the Pediatric Research in Emergency Therapeutics (PRETx) Program, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Child and Family Research Institute (CFRI), and British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Insights
Follow-up calls to families after emergency department (ED) visits unexpectedly increased return visits within 72 hours. Healthcare providers should be aware of this potential rise in return rates when implementing such calls.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Emergency department (ED) return visits are a concern for healthcare systems.
- Post-discharge follow-up calls are a strategy to monitor patient well-being and potentially reduce revisits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the rate of return to the ED within 72 hours between children whose families received a post-discharge follow-up call and those who did not.
Main Methods:
- Prospective, randomized study design.
- Follow-up calls were made by non-healthcare providers 12 hours after ED discharge.
- Return visits to the ED within 72 hours were recorded for both study and control groups.
Main Results:
- The study group (follow-up call) had a significantly higher rate of return visits to the ED (14%) compared to the control group (7%) (P < 0.03).
- No other parameters showed statistically significant differences between the groups.
- The findings were contrary to the initial hypothesis.
Conclusions:
- Post-discharge follow-up calls by non-healthcare providers may lead to an increased rate of emergency department return visits.
- Emergency departments should consider this potential outcome when implementing follow-up call protocols.
Objectives:
We compare the rate of return to the emergency department (ED) within 72 hours between families of children receiving a follow-up telephone call by a non-health care provider asking about the child's well-being 12 hours after their visit to the ED and families not receiving a follow-up call.
Methods:
This was a prospective, randomized study in which we conducted a follow-up call starting at 12 hours after discharge from the ED versus no call for follow-up. At 96 hours after discharge, we contacted all recruited families. We recorded the rate of return to the ED within 72 hours of discharge.
Results:
Of 371 families in the data analysis, 46% were in the study group, and 55.5% were male patients. Mean age was 5.7 years. The outcome measure was found to be in contrary to our hypothesis. We found return visits to the ED in 24 (14%) of the children in the study group compared with only 14 (7%) in the control group (P < 0.03). All other parameters were not statistically different between the groups.
Conclusions:
Emergency departments practicing follow-up calls by non-health care providers should consider a forecasted increase in return rates.
