Almost all institutions will experience some hospital readmissions because of the difficulty involved in deciding when a patient is ready for discharge from monitored hospital care. Even the best doctors and nurses will never be certain if a patient has been completely healed and his condition has been permanently and fully removed. Because of this, patients are sometimes sent home from the hospital when they actually require further treatment; when their need for this further treatment becomes apparent, they usually return to the hospital through the process of hospital readmissions. Because hospital readmissions are stressful for the patient and his family and friends, costly for the hospital and consequently for insurance providers, and impose upon the doctors and nurses who must carry out the treatment, everyone will be benefited by the reduction of hospital readmissions.
It is not possible to prevent hospital readmissions entirely. There will always be uncertainty in the evaluation of a patient’s condition and his ability to return home. However, efforts can and should be concentrated on reducing preventable hospital readmissions that are the fault of careless employees or doctors.
Experience with patient history and hospital readmissions causes should be present in hospital employees so that they can correctly judge when it is appropriate for a patient to leave the hospital such that he will not need to return. All employees of the hospital should be well-informed about all the details of the patient’s condition so that they can contribute to a justified decision on the capability of a certain patient to leave.
Also, hospital readmissions can be the cause of faulty, unwise, or unsafe practices by doctors or surgeons. Invasive exploratory surgery , for example, may cause an infection that could result in a hospital readmission later. Lazy doctors may rush through the evaluation or treatment of a patient, and overexertion or excessive encouragement of recovery may be detrimental to the condition of the patient. These situations could lead to the return of a condition that was treated.
Healthcare providers must pay attention to the medicines that they issue to patients. Patients should be well educated by their doctors on what medications they need to take. Doctors should take care to ensure that patients are not provided with medication to which they are allergic.