Improving Care Transitions at Home

When patients leave a hospital or care facility to return home, trouble can quickly arise. Top barriers for a successful recovery include medication errors, fall injuries, infections and inadequate nutrition. Trouble can also occur when patients forget follow-up doctor appointments or lack transportation to medical care or even the grocery store.

Difficulties in care once a person returns home from the hospital or care facility can lead to escalating readmissions, costs and mortality rates. When care transitions falter, patients’ lives can be at risk, and their families can become scared and frustrated.

Upcoming Care Transitions Webinar

During a November 21 webinar, “Improving Care Transitions: Data and Strategies to Achieve Success,” Katherine Watts, LMSW, ACM-SW, and Kelly Tappenden, Ph.D., will address the challenges of successfully recovering at home after leaving a hospital or care facility. Watts is the Director of Medical Social Services at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina, and is the President of the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Case Management Association. Tappenden is a professor and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago and directs a research program on intestinal failure and adaptation, and patient malnutrition.

Designed for healthcare and caregiver professionals, the webinar overviews patient-centered care and the social determinants of health, such as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. Watts and Tappenden will discuss how a care recipient’s home setting, healthcare access and social support affect how well and how long the person remains safe and comfortable at home.

Success With RightTransitions^®

“One-third to one-half of individuals in our U.S. hospitals are malnourished,” Tappenden explains. “When an individual is malnourished during their hospital stay, there is such a big difference in outcomes associated with clinical complications, length of stay, readmissions and even mortality.”

Watts will detail the success the Lexington Medical Center is seeing by partnering with RightTransitions by Right at Home, an in-home care and assistance program for patients leaving the hospital. RightTransitions care services can include everything from hygiene care and healthy meal preparation to medication reminders and transportation.

The webinar, sponsored by Right at Home and hosted by the American Society on Aging, also will examine data and actionable steps for successful care transitions, and provide anecdotal examples from Watts’s and Tappenden’s years of working with patients, family members and care teams. The free webinar starts at 10 a.m. Pacific (1:00 p.m. Eastern) and includes one complimentary continuing education credit. Click here for more information and to register for the webinar.