Avoiding time in the hospital is a goal of patients with advanced cancer and health systems alike. However advanced cancer is associated with symptom burden and stressors that frequently bring patients back to hospitals for management. In this study, published in the Journal of Oncology Practice, the admission records of 200 patients were reviewed for 1 year. The primary reason for every hospital readmission was determined and then reviewed using adapted Graham’s criteria. Those readmissions classified as predictors of potentially avoidable readmissions (PARs) were further examined. They found that 39% of 277 hospital readmissions could have been avoided using outpatient management strategies.
Link: J Oncol Pract (6/2019) (available via Medscape (free access with site registration))
