Physician Follow-up after Hospital Discharge in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Mark McPherson; Hani Abushomar; Sharon Gushue; Xi-Kuan Chen; Chelsea Taylor; Katerina Gapanenko

doi:10.12927/hcq.2015.24438

Physician Follow-up after Hospital Discharge in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Healthc Q. 2015;18(3):11-3. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2015.24438.

Authors

Mark McPherson¹, Hani Abushomar², Sharon Gushue³, Xi-Kuan Chen¹, Chelsea Taylor⁴, Katerina Gapanenko⁵

Affiliations

¹ Program lead in the Health System Research team at CIHI, in Toronto, Ontario. He leads and coordinates the design and development of several CIHI reports.
² Senior analyst in the Health System Research team at CIHI, in Toronto, Ontario. He is responsible for performing analyses, providing methodological support to projects and writing reports.
³ Senior analyst in the Health System Research team at CIHI, in Toronto, Ontario. She is responsible for performing analyses, providing methodological support to projects and writing reports.
⁴ Senior researcher with the Health System Performance Department at CIHI, in Toronto, Ontario. She provides methodological support to the design and development of a variety of CIHI's analytical reports.
⁵ Manager of the Health System Research team at CIHI, in Toronto, Ontario. She oversees the development and production of a variety of CIHI's analytical reports.

PMID: 26718247
DOI: 10.12927/hcq.2015.24438

Abstract

The period immediately after discharge from hospital can potentially be high risk and a vulnerable transition point for patients. This analysis from the Canadian Institute for Health Information assessed adherence to best practices for patient follow-up in the community after hospitalization in Alberta and Saskatchewan. For three selected conditions - acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - the majority of patients (77-92%) saw a physician within a month of their discharge. However, fewer patients saw a physician within the first week (35-56%).

MeSH terms

Aftercare / statistics & numerical data*
Alberta
Heart Failure / therapy
Humans
Myocardial Infarction / therapy
Patient Discharge* / statistics & numerical data
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / therapy
Saskatchewan