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Contact: Chuck Weber
262-473-3018, cpweber@weberpr.com
Empowering Family Caregivers Assures Successful Acute Care
Transitions
Journal for Healthcare Quality Study Shows Confident, Informed Caregivers Better
Manage Medications and Other Patient Care Needs
CHICAGO, Jan. 27, 2015 – When hospitals adopt proactive, enhanced care transition
interventions to assure that family caregivers are well prepared when patients are discharged, the
incidence of adverse outcomes due to communication lapses with clinicians or medication
mistakes can be reduced significantly, according to new research published in the Journal for
Healthcare Quality (JHQ).
JHQ is the peer-reviewed publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ,
www.nahq.org). The current issue is devoted to an increasingly significant concern in healthcare
quality management – how to assure favorable outcomes when transitioning patients from one
clinical environment to another or to the home.
According to JHQ Editor Maulik Joshi, DrPH, transitions in care can be broadly defined as
practices implemented across the continuum of care, such as within a healthcare delivery
organization, across settings (e.g. acute to post-acute) and within a community or population.
“The critical benefits of successful care transitions are preventing hospital readmissions and
reducing health care costs,” said Joshi.
“Because family caregivers contributions often go unrecognized, there is relatively little attention
to their needs and consequently even less guidance for how to best incorporate their voice and
preferences to more formally engage them at times of care transitions,” said lead author Eric A.
Coleman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Care Transitions Program at
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
In the JHQ study, 83 patient-family caregiver teams were studied following discharge from a
Colorado acute-care hospital. They participated in an enhanced care transitions intervention
(CTI). The enhanced CTI is a four-week intervention by transition coaches (social workers or
nurses) composed of a hospital visit, a home visit and three follow-up telephone calls.
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“Transitions coaches encourage patients and family caregivers to take a more active role in their
care, better articulate their needs, and improve their ability to meet those needs,” Coleman
explained. “They also help patients and caregivers respond to common challenges in medications
management, use of a patient centered personal health record, timely follow up with primary care
providers, and ability to respond to red flags that may indicate a worsening condition.”
Results of the study showed that using the enhanced CTI significantly improved medication
safety, collaborations with transition coaches in resolving discrepancies and errors, and being
confident in taking responsibility for implementing the discharge care plan.
“With high levels of satisfaction, the enhanced CTI model appears to have applications to local
and national efforts aimed at improving the hospital transition experience,” said Coleman.
About the Journal for Healthcare Quality
The Journal for Healthcare Quality (JHQ) is the first choice for creative and scientific solutions
in the pursuit of healthcare quality. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins, JHQ is peer reviewed and issued six times a year. JHQ publishes scholarly articles
targeted to leaders of all healthcare settings, leveraging applied research and producing practical,
timely, and impactful evidence in healthcare system transformation covering topics in: quality
improvement, patient safety, performance measurement, best practices in clinical and operational
processes, innovation, leadership, information technology, spreading improvement, sustaining
improvement, cost reduction, and payment reform.
About NAHQ
Founded in 1976 and covering a full spectrum of healthcare specialties, the National Association
for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) is an essential and interactive resource for quality and patient
safety professionals worldwide. NAHQ’s vision is to realize the promise of healthcare
improvement through innovative practices in quality and patient safety.
NAHQ’s 12,000-plus members and certificants benefit from cutting edge education and NAHQ’s
unique collective body of knowledge, as well as opportunities to learn from a diverse group of
professionals. These resources help assure success for implementing improvements in quality
outcomes and patient safety, navigating the changing healthcare landscape, and serving as the
voice of quality. Visit www.nahq.org to learn more.