A telephone call 1 week after hospitalization can identify risk factors for vascular surgery readmission.
OBJECTIVE Compared with other populations, patients who undergo vascular surgery have higher 30 day hospital readmission rates of up to 25% Postdischarge telephone call assessments have demonstrated utility in patients with significant medical comorbidities and traditionally high readmission rates. Therefore, we hypothesized that a 1 week postdischarge telephone call evaluation can identify risk factors for readmission among vascular surgery patients. METHODS Patients who underwent a vascular surgery procedure during a 1 year period by a single vascular surgeon at one hospital received a postdischarge telephone call questionnaire to review postoperative pain, surgical site, constitutional symptoms, and follow up arrangement. The primary outcome measure was frequency of postoperative symptoms as collected on the telephone call questionnaire. The secondary outcome measure was 30 day hospital readmission rates. RESULTS Among 167 patients, 131 (78% received a telephone call after discharge. Calls identified pain relieved by prescription medication (odds ratio, 6.67; confidence interval, 0.82 53.81; P .05) and continued dressing application (odds ratio, 9.55; confidence interval, 0.54 166.6; P .04) as risk factors for 30 day readmission. The 30 day readmission was not statistically different in patients who were successfully and not successfully contacted with a postdischarge telephone call (8% and 17% respectively; P .37) CONCLUSIONS Vascular surgery patients are at higher risk of 30 day readmission than are patients in other surgical subspecialties. For the majority of patients, implementing a 1 week postdischarge telephone call for short term follow up evaluation is feasible and can help identify potential risk factors for hospital readmission within 30 days.
Journal of vascular surgery