The Impact of Discharge Teaching on COPD Readmissions

The purpose of this evidenced-based project was to answer the question: Does using a formalized discharge list identifying key educational topics regarding the patient’s disease process decrease readmission risk for COPD patients? This study used all COPD patients admitted over a two-week period who consented to receiving one-on-one detailed COPD education (n=33). Participants were provided education utilizing a COPD educational tool that addressed topics pertaining to the transition from the hospital back home, inhaler techniques and use, common questions to ask the provider before being discharged, smoking cessation, and identifying the warning signs of an exacerbation were among the few topics covered. One-on-one educational sessions were scheduled at minimum for one hour and available seven days a week. Post-implementation of the evidenced-based project, a simple regression analysis was completed to test the variables of length of stay, age, sex, race, smoking status, and payor source. Based on these statistics, length of stay was the only significant variable. Seven patients who participated in this project were readmitted to the hospital. Readmissions were more common among former smokers and males. In conclusion, utilizing a COPD education tool to provide education had little impact on readmissions alone