"Why Are Many Dialysis Patients Readmitted To The Hospital Soon After Discharge?"
A new analysis found that nearly one-quarter of dialysis patients who are admitted to the hospital are readmitted after discharge, often for a diagnosis that’s different from the one that led to the initial hospitalization. The analysis, which appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, also identified certain patient characteristics linked to hospital readmissions. A team led by Girish Nadkarni, MD, assistant professor of medicine and nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Lili Chan, MD, instructor of medicine and nephrology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, set out to determine the nationwide readmission rate in dialysis patients and examine reasons for initial admissions and readmissions. "Regardless of what patients initially were admitted for, they had similar readmission rates. This along with the low concordance suggests that we need to focus on the patient as a whole rather than their admission diagnoses," said Dr. Chan. "To reduce readmissions in dialysis patients, perhaps a good starting place would be to institute interventions targeted at high utilizers and create a validated risk score incorporating likely risk factors,” said Dr. Nadkarni.
- Girish Nadkarni, MD, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Nephrology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Lili Chan, MD, Instructor, Medicine, Nephrology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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