Can nurses tell the future? Creation of a model predictive of 30-day readmissions

The estimated cost for hospital readmissions in 2011 was more than $41 billion, but the costs to patients in terms of quality of life are immeasurable. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are variables available to nurses at the time of the patient's admission that could be predictive of a 30-day hospital readmission. Logistic regression was used in a stepwise approach to determine the variable combinations most predictive for 30-day readmission. Thirty-two variables were found to be significantly predictive of 30-day readmissions from the more than 1400 examined.