Hotspotting in home health: The impact of interprofessional student-team home visits on readmission rates of super-utilizers of the health care system

ABSTRACT

Studies have shown the impact of interprofessional education (IPE) on health professions students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes and, to some extent, its impact on patient and organizational outcomes. This retrospective quasi-experimental study explored the impact of home visits by teams of interprofessional health professions students on the readmission rates of patients recently discharged from the hospital. Patients (20 in the intervention group, 20 in the control group) were in the care of one home health agency during a 7-month period. The patient groups were similar in terms of gender (55% male, 45% female) and age (mean about 73). The model implemented in this study, referred to as hotspotting, is designed to improve patient outcomes, decrease readmissions, and decrease costs. Twelve student participants included two pharmacy, three public health, three occupational therapy, three nursing, and one medical student. Student teams performed 32 total visits. There was a significant difference between the 30-day hospital readmission rate for the intervention group and the 30-day hospital readmission rate for the control group (ᵡ² = 4.286, df = 1, p = .038). While limited by sample size, this study warrants a closer examination of hotspotting in home health as an effective way to improve patient outcomes and decrease costs.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional education
• hotspotting
• social determinants of health
• hospital readmissions

Acknowledgments

The author was a participant in the 2021 National League for Nursing (NLN) Scholarly Writing Retreat, sponsored by the NLN Chamberlain College of Nursing Center for the Advancement of the Science of Nursing Education.

The author would like to acknowledge the following nurse scientists who helped guide this work: Dr. Susan Letvak, Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Dr. Meg Zomorodi, Professor and Assistant Provost, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Another invaluable colleague in this work was Ms. Brandi Robinson, MSN, RN.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer T. Alderman

Dr. Jennifer Alderman is a Clinical Associate Professor at UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing and one of two inaugural Anne Belcher IPE Faculty Scholars. Dr. Alderman has over a decade of experience in interprofessional education, including researching the impact of IPE on patient outcomes. Dr. Alderman has expertise in nursing leadership, quality improvement, patient safety, and simulation. She is currently Lead Faculty for the Undergraduate Program at UNC Chapel Hill, working closely with graduating pre-licensure nursing students, preparing them for transition to practice.