2. Errors outside of the hospital
AHRQ Patient Safety Net accessed
November 13, 2012
Absolutely. Many of those errors result from the lack of strong care coordination and
communication between different parts of our health care system. As we look to reduce
unnecessary readmissions to hospital, there has been an increased focus on Care
transitions: structures to be sure patients and their families have the information and
support they need to manage their health post hospitalization.
(Notable work on care transitions includes Dr Eric Coleman, www.caretransitions.org/
and Dr Mary Naylor, http://www.innovativecaremodels.com/care_models/ and the CMS
program, Community based care transitions,
http://innovations.cms.gov/initiatives/Partnership-for-Patients/CCTP )
A way to address one piece of this –create a greater connection and understanding
between inpatient teams and care in the community ( doctor’s office, clinic, nursing home,
etc). Hospitalists and residents focused on inpatient work have little exposure to what it will
be like for patients when they leave the hospital – providing these physicians with time in
the outpatient setting, in essence, seeing the flip side of their discharge process, as well
as feeding data back to these providers, can begin to change the culture and focus of the
care team involved in discharging the patient, and communicating with community
providers.
