PMID- 28796810
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20171017
LR  - 20201214
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 12
IP  - 8
DP  - 2017
TI  - The association of post-discharge adverse events with timely follow-up visits 
      after hospital discharge.
PG  - e0182669
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0182669 [doi]
LID - e0182669
AB  - OBJECTIVE: There has been little research to examine the association of 
      post-discharge adverse events (AEs) with timely follow-up visits after hospital 
      discharge. We aimed to examine whether having a timely follow-up outpatient visit 
      would reduce the risk for post-discharge AEs. METHODS: This was a methods study 
      of patients at risk for post-discharge AEs from December 2011 through October 
      2012. Five hundred and forty-five patients who were under the care of hospitalist 
      physicians and were discharged home from a community hospital, spoke English, and 
      could be contacted after discharge were evaluated. The aim of the study was to 
      examine the association of post-discharge AEs with timely follow-up visits after 
      hospital discharge based on structured telephone interviews, health record 
      review, and adjudication by two blinded, trained physicians using a previously 
      established methodology. RESULTS: We observed a higher incidence of AEs with 
      patients that had their first follow-up visit within 7 days after hospital 
      discharge (33.5% vs. 23.0%, p = 0.007). This effect was attenuated somewhat but 
      remained significant when adjusted for several patient factors (adjusted OR 1.33, 
      95% confidence interval 1.16-2.71). CONCLUSION: This observational study 
      paradoxically showed an increase in post-discharge AEs with early follow-up, 
      likely a result of confounding by indication and/or information bias that could 
      not be completely adjusted for. This study illustrates the potential hazards with 
      conducting observational studies to determine the efficacy of various 
      transitional care interventions, such as early follow-up, where risk for 
      confounding by indication is high.
FAU - Tsilimingras, Dennis
AU  - Tsilimingras D
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-5589-1283
AD  - Department of Family Medicine & Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University 
      School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
FAU - Ghosh, Samiran
AU  - Ghosh S
AD  - Department of Family Medicine & Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University 
      School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
FAU - Duke, Ashley
AU  - Duke A
AD  - Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America.
FAU - Zhang, Liying
AU  - Zhang L
AD  - Department of Family Medicine & Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University 
      School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
FAU - Carretta, Henry
AU  - Carretta H
AD  - Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, Florida State University 
      College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America.
FAU - Schnipper, Jeffrey
AU  - Schnipper J
AD  - Division of General Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical 
      School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
LA  - eng
GR  - R01 HS018694/HS/AHRQ HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Observational Study
DEP - 20170810
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Aged, 80 and over
MH  - Female
MH  - Follow-Up Studies
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Patient Discharge
MH  - Patient Readmission/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Risk Assessment
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC5552135
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2017/08/11 06:00
MHDA- 2017/10/19 06:00
PMCR- 2017/08/10
CRDT- 2017/08/11 06:00
PHST- 2017/03/03 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2017/07/16 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2017/08/11 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2017/08/11 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2017/10/19 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2017/08/10 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-17-08560 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0182669 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2017 Aug 10;12(8):e0182669. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182669. 
      eCollection 2017.