Patients at high risk in transition from hospital to long-term care, study finds

Patients suffer from adverse events 37.3 percent of the time during the transition from a hospital to a long-term care facility, and 70.4 percent of these events are preventable, according to a July 22 study in JAMA.

The study analyzed a random sample of 555 long-term residents from 32 nursing homes in six New England states, each of whom was discharged from the hospital back to a long-term care facility in the period from March 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2017. Researchers followed up with the patients for 45 days. 

They found nearly 4 in 10 discharges resulted in adverse events. The most common events were skin tears, pressure ulcers and falls. According to the study, 52.2 percent of the events were serious, 7.4 percent were life-threatening, and 2.1 percent were fatal. 

The study's authors recommended increased standardization of event reporting and better communication across healthcare settings to reduce adverse events.

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