Effects of patient education and follow up after discharge on hospital readmission in heart failure patients

Backgroundm: Based on recent evidence, inadequate and ineffective follow up after discharge increases the risk of unplanned readmissions, which is an indicator of poor healthcare system function. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of patient education and follow up after discharge on hospital readmission in heart failure patients.
This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 120 patients with heart failure admitted in Taleghani hospital, Tehran and were allocated equally with block randomization method. The intervention group were educated based on recent guidelines and their needs after discharge and were followed up for 3 months by 9 telephone interviews (every week for the first month after discharge, every two weeks for the next two months), but the control group received the routine care. Data were gathered based on a control check-list every two weeks for both groups and were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher and t-test. Evaluation of intervention effect was done using generalized estimating equations (GEE) model.
Readmission rate was 19.3% in intervention group and 38.2% in control group (p=0.05). The patients that needed outpatient care did not differ significantly in both groups (17.5% in intervention group vs. 28.3% in control group).
This study suggests that patient education and follow up after discharge might decrease readmission rate among heart failure patients.