Readmissions to a cardiology department

Patient readmissions may be an indication of inappropriate patient care pathways or quality failure. The aim of the study was to determine whether we could identify improvement areas by reviewing 50 non-planned readmissions.

We reviewed 50 consecutive non-planned readmissions in the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital of North Norway. The medical records were reviewed based on a simplified version of the '50 most recent deaths' methodology.

Altogether 29 patients had at least one extrinsic risk factor for readmission, the most frequent of which were lack of post-discharge follow-up and failure to transfer information to the municipal health service. Insufficient registration and follow-up of abnormal blood test results, new symptoms immediately before discharge, and missing information in discharge summaries and for patients were other risk factors for readmission.

Review of readmissions can serve as an instrument to identify areas for improvement of treatment quality in hospitals. Failure in communication between the hospital, municipal health service and patient was the main contributory factor for readmissions.