Patient satisfaction increased and hospital readmissions decreased
at the hands of pharmacist-led patient engagement.
By Sara Heath
December 16, 2019
- Pharmacist-led patient engagement during hospital discharge, as well as
patient outreach and follow-up care, can improve patient satisfaction and
HCAHPS scores by nearly 15 percent, according to research presented at the American Society
for Health-System Pharmacists 54th Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition.
Pharmacist-led
engagement is also effective at reducing hospital readmissions, the researchers
found.
The hospital
discharge process is an essential one for ensuring quality patient outcomes.
Although the level of care a patient receives while in her hospital bed may be
critical, it is what happens after she is discharged that impacts how she fares
in the long run and how she feels about her treatment.
Dig
Deeper
Patients who do not
receive adequate recovery information, education about their medications, or
overall meaningful engagement during the discharge process may not be able to
self-manage their care after they leave the hospital. Ultimately, these
patients run the risk of being admitted back into the hospital, a high-cost
problem for hospitals and a burdensome and often dangerous issue for patients.
But delivering
extensive patient education and engagement during the discharge process can be
challenging for providers who have busy schedules and who have to treat
patients who are currently still admitted into the hospital. Discharge often
falls by the wayside as hospitals scramble to find qualified providers who are
able to dedicate time to patient education, medication reconciliation, and
engagement.
But pharmacists have
proven well-positioned for addressing this challenge considering their
specialized knowledge of the medications a patient may be prescribed and their
job duties that usually come at the end of a hospital stay.
“Previous research
demonstrates that poor communication and planning during transitions of care
lead to increased adverse drug events and higher hospital readmission rates. In
our study, we were seeking a way to improve patient satisfaction and safety as
well as reduce hospital readmission rates,” said Katherine L. March, PharmD,
BCPS, clinical pharmacy specialist at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis.
“Without any
additional resourcing, we focused Methodist pharmacy staff on medicine
reconciliation and disease education,” March continued. “Ultimately, we found
that pharmacy-based transition-of-care models can improve patient satisfaction.
We saw a drop in readmission rates as well.”
In an assessment of
1,728 patients, the researchers confirmed that pharmacist-led patient
engagement during the discharge process can have positive effects on the care
experience. Pharmacists who led patient education efforts, addressed medication
reconciliation, discussed medications with patients, and followed up with
patients in a phone call yielded higher patient satisfaction scores.
Specifically, HCAHPS
scores increased 14.7 percent, the researchers found, due largely to the
engagement and education efforts put in at the end of a patient’s hospital
stay.
What’s more,
pharmacist-led patient engagement improved quality outcomes, specifically
hospital readmissions. Hospital 30-day readmissions went down by 5 percent,
from 17.3 to 12.4 percent, by study’s end.
“Pharmacists play a
multitude of vital roles for patients during a hospital stay, including
comprehensive medication management and ensuring medication safety,” March
concluded. “Now, they can feel increasingly confident about their role in
helping patients when transitioning from different levels of care. Our findings
add to growing literature demonstrating that pharmacist involvement in hospital
discharge improves outcomes and safety.”
This is not the first
time talk of pharmacist-led patient engagement has arisen. Healthcare
organizations across the country, ranging from community pharmacies to
wide-reaching accountable care organizations (ACOs),
have employed pharmacists to lead patient engagement efforts largely because of
the frequency with which they see patients.
“Pharmacists are the
clinicians most accessible to patients and uniquely positioned to provide care
that effectively engages patients in medication management and chronic disease
management,” according to Laura Cranston, RPh, the CEO of the Pharmacy Quality
Alliance (PQA).
PQA has long
advocated for pharmacist-led patient engagement because of their close
proximity to patients and released a report in March 2019 detailing
those efforts.
Pharmacists must
focus on medication adherence, the social determinants of health that impact
patient access to care and care management, and personal patient needs when
forging deeper relationships. Additionally, considering efficiency and
standardized patient engagement practices will help pharmacists deliver on
value-based care principles.
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