Dataset Information

Understanding the impact and causes of 'failure to attend' on continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

To understand the impact and causes of 'Failure to Attend' (FTA) labelling, of patients with chronic conditions.

Background

Nurse navigators are registered nurses employed by public hospitals in Queensland, Australia, to coordinate the care of patients with multiple chronic conditions, who frequently miss hospital appointments. The role of the nurse navigator is to improve care management of these patients. Evidence for this is measured through improvement in patient self-management of their conditions, a reduction in preventable hospital admissions and compliance with attendance at outpatient clinics. Failure to attend (FTA) is one measure of hospital utilisation, identifying outpatient appointments that are cancelled or not attended.

Method

The cohort for this study was patients with multiple chronic conditions, and nurse navigators coordinating their care. Data describing the concept of FTA were thematically analysed twelve months into this three year evaluation.

Results

Although the patient is blamed for failing to attend appointments, the reasons appear to be a mixture of systems error/miscommunication between the patient and the health services or social reasons impacting on patient's capacity to attend. Themes emerging from the data were: access barriers; failure to recognise personal stigma of FTA; and bridging the gap.

Conclusion

The nurse navigators demonstrate their pivotal role in engaging with outpatient services to reduce FTAs whilst helping patients to become confident in dealing with multiple appointments. There are many reasons why a patient is unable to attend a scheduled appointment. The phrase 'Failure to Attend' has distinctly negative connotations and can lead to a sense of blame and shame for those with complex chronic needs. We propose the use of the neutral phrase "appointment did not proceed" to replace FTA.

Implications for nursing management

This article advocates for further consideration of collaborative models that engage the patient in their care journey and for consideration of the language used within the outpatient acute hospital setting, proposing the term 'appointment did not proceed.'

SUBMITTER: Byrne AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7924779 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Understanding the impact and causes of 'failure to attend' on continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions.

Byrne Amy-Louise AL Baldwin Adele A Harvey Clare C Brown Janie J Willis Eileen E Hegney Desley D Ferguson Bridget B Judd Jenni J Kynaston Doug D Forrest Rachel R Heritage Brody B Heard David D Mclellan Sandy S Thompson Shona S Palmer Janine J

PloS one 20210302 3

<h4>Aim</h4>To understand the impact and causes of 'Failure to Attend' (FTA) labelling, of patients with chronic conditions.<h4>Background</h4>Nurse navigators are registered nurses employed by public hospitals in Queensland, Australia, to coordinate the care of patients with multiple chronic conditions, who frequently miss hospital appointments. The role of the nurse navigator is to improve care management of these patients. Evidence for this is measured through improvement in patient self-mana ...[more]

PMID: 33651826

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Project description:BackgroundContinuity of care has been explored largely from academic and service provider perspectives, and in relation to adult patient/client groups. We interviewed parents of children with complex chronic health conditions to examine how their experiences and perceptions of continuity of care fit with these perspectives; and to identify the salient factors in the experience of, and factors contributing to, continuity in this population.MethodsParents of 47 elementary school-aged children with spina bifida, Down syndrome, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis participated in semi-structured interviews. Parents described and mapped the pattern of their interactions with service providers over time in all domains relevant to their child's health, well-being, and development (medical, rehabilitational, educational, and social supportive services), with particular attention paid to their perceptions of connectedness or coherency in these interactions. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed thematically using a framework approach to impose structure regarding parents' perspectives on continuity of care.ResultsExisting academic concepts of relational, informational and management continuity were all discernable in parents' narratives. A thorough knowledge of the child on the part of service providers emerged as extremely important to parents; such knowledge was underpinned by continuity of personal relationships, principally, and also by written information. For this population, notions of continuity extend to the full range of service providers these children and families need to achieve optimal health status, and are not limited to physicians and nurses. Communication among providers was seen as integral to perceived continuity. Compartmentalization of services and information led to parents assuming a necessary, though at times, uncomfortable, coordinating role. Geographic factors, institutional structures and practices, provider attitudes, and, on occasion, parent preferences and judgments, were all found to create barriers to "seamless" management and provision of care continuity across providers, settings, and sectors.ConclusionsThese findings add new perspectives to the understanding of continuity within chronically ill children's health care. They are relevant to contemporary initiatives to improve continuity of services to children with special health care needs, demonstrate the need for parental support of their important role in maintaining continuity, and suggest avenues for further research.

Project description:BackgroundObesity affects nearly half of adults in the United States and is contributing substantially to a pandemic of obesity-associated chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis. The obesity-associated chronic condition pandemic is particularly severe in low-income, medically underserved, predominantly African-American areas in the southern United States. Little is known regarding the impact of geographic, income, and racial disparities in continuity of care on major health outcomes for patients with obesity-associated chronic conditions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to assess, among patients with obesity-associated chronic conditions, and within this group, patients with type 2 diabetes, (1) whether continuity of care is associated with lower overall and potentially preventable emergency department and hospital utilization, (2) the effect of geographic, income, and racial disparities on continuity of care and on health care utilization, (3) whether continuity of care particularly protects individuals at risk for disparities from adverse health outcomes, and (4) whether characteristics of health systems are associated with higher continuity of care and better outcomes.MethodsUsing 2015-2018 data from 4 practice-based research networks participating in the Southern Obesity and Diabetes Coalition, we will conduct a retrospective cohort analysis and distributed meta-analysis. Patients with obesity-associated chronic conditions and with type 2 diabetes will be assessed within each health system, following a standardized study protocol. The primary study outcomes are overall and preventable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Continuity of care will be calculated at the facility level using a modified version of the Bice-Boxerman continuity of care index. Race will be assessed using electronic medical record data. Residence in a low-income area or a health professional shortage area respectively will be assessed by linking patient residence ZIP codes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services database.ResultsIn 4 regional health systems across Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, a total of 53 adult hospitals were included in the study. A total of 147,889 patients with obesity-associated chronic conditions who met study criteria were identified in these health systems, of which 45,453 patients met the type 2 diabetes criteria for inclusion. Results are expected by the end of 2020.ConclusionsThis study should reveal whether health system efforts to increase continuity of care for patients with obesity and diabetes have potential to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Analyzing disparities in continuity of care and their effect on major health outcomes can help demonstrate how to improve care and use of health care resources for vulnerable patients with obesity-associated chronic conditions, and within this group, patients with type 2 diabetes. Better understanding of the association between continuity and health care utilization for these vulnerable populations will contribute to the development of higher-value health systems in the southern United States.International registered report identifier (irrid)DERR1-10.2196/20788.

Project description:Although fragmentation in the provision of services is considered an obstacle to effective health care, there is scant evidence on the impact of interventions to improve care coordination between primary care and secondary care in terms of continuity of care-i.e. from the patient perspective-particularly in Latin America (LA). Within the framework of the Equity-LA II project, interventions to improve coordination across care levels were implemented in five Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay) through a participatory action research (PAR) process. This paper analyses the impact of these PAR interventions on the cross-level continuity of care of chronic patients in public healthcare networks. A quasi-experimental study was performed with measurements based on two surveys of a sample of patients with chronic conditions (392 per network; 800 per country). Both the baseline (2015) and evaluation (2017) surveys were conducted using the CCAENA questionnaire. In each country, two comparable public healthcare networks were selected, one intervention and one control. Outcomes were cross-level continuity of information and clinical management continuity. Descriptive analyses were conducted, and Poisson regression models with robust variance were fitted to estimate changes. With differences between countries, the results showed improvements in cross-level continuity of clinical information (transfer of clinical information) and clinical management continuity (care coherence). These results are consistent with those of previous studies on the effectiveness of the interventions implemented in each country in improving care coordination in Brazil, Chile and Colombia. Differences between countries are probably related to particular contextual factors and events that occurred during the implementation process. This supports the notion that certain context and process factors are needed to improve continuity of care. The results provide evidence that, although the interventions were designed to enhance care coordination and aimed at health professionals, patients report improvements in continuity of care.

Project description:ImportanceBetter continuity of care is expected to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs, but patterns of use, costs, and clinical complications associated with the current patterns of care continuity have not been quantified.ObjectiveTo measure the association between care continuity, costs, and rates of hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and complications for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic disease.Design, setting, and participantsRetrospective cohort study of insurance claims data for a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries experiencing a 12-month episode of care for congestive heart failure (CHF, n = 53,488), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 76,520), or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM, n = 166,654) in 2008 and 2009.Main outcomes and measuresHospitalizations, emergency department visits, complications, and costs of care associated with the Bice-Boxerman continuity of care (COC) index, a measure of the outpatient COC related to conditions of interest.ResultsThe mean (SD) COC index was 0.55 (0.31) for CHF, 0.60 (0.34) for COPD, and 0.50 (0.32) for DM. After multivariable adjustment, higher levels of continuity were associated with lower odds of inpatient hospitalization (odds ratios for a 0.1-unit increase in COC were 0.94 [95% CI, 0.93-0.95] for CHF, 0.95 [0.94-0.96] for COPD, and 0.95 [0.95-0.96] for DM), lower odds of emergency department visits (0.92 [0.91-0.92] for CHF, 0.93 [0.92-0.93] for COPD, and 0.94 [0.93-0.94] for DM), and lower odds of complications (odds ratio range, 0.92-0.96 across the 3 complication types and 3 conditions; all P < .001). For every 0.1-unit increase in the COC index, episode costs of care were 4.7% lower for CHF (95% CI, 4.4%-5.0%), 6.3% lower for COPD (6.0%-6.5%), and 5.1% lower for DM (5.0%-5.2%) in adjusted analyses.Conclusions and relevanceModest differences in care continuity for Medicare beneficiaries are associated with sizable differences in costs, use, and complications.

Dataset Information

Understanding the impact and causes of 'failure to attend' on continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions.

Aim

Background

Method

Results

Conclusion

Implications for nursing management

Publications

Understanding the impact and causes of 'failure to attend' on continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions.

Similar Datasets

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