Patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-led discharge wellness care transition program

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction of a care transition program aimed at reducing unplanned readmissions by coordinating care transitions from hospital to home and promoting medication adherence through a pharmacist-led intervention. Methods: Five components comprise the care transition program: medication history, bedside delivery of discharge medications, 48-hour postdischarge phone calls, 9-day post-discharge phone calls, and 25-day postdischarge phone calls. This retrospective, crosssectional study assessed patient satisfaction with two components of the program: bedside delivery of discharge medications and 48-hour postdischarge phone calls. During the 48-hour postdischarge phone call, program participants were asked about their satisfaction with bedside delivery of medications and the helpfulness of the phone call in understanding their medication therapy from January 2013 to December 2013. Ordinal logistic regression was used to measure the relationship between patient satisfaction and age, gender, race, comorbidity count, admission source, primary payer, secondary payer, and receiving more than one follow-up phone call. Results: Bedside delivery program and 48-hour follow-up phone call survey response rates were 63% (n = 348/549) and 71% (n = 390/549), respectively. Overall satisfaction with the bedside delivery program was 92%. Approximately 79% of participants found the followup phone call helpful to very helpful with understanding the medications prescribed for their health condition. Female patients (odds ratio [OR], 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-2.62) and patients admitted from home (OR, 5.00; 95% CI, 2.30-10.90) were significantly more likely to be satisfied with bedside delivery of discharge medications. Female patients (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.01-2.34), patients admitted from home (OR, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.49-5.70) and patients with more predischarge prescription fills (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02-1.14) were significantly more likely to find the follow-up phone call helpful to very helpful. Conclusion: Overall, these findings indicate that female patients and patients admitted from home were more likely to be satisfied with bedside delivery and the 48-hour postdischarge follow-up phone call.