“Self-care index” (SPI) and “Post-acute care discharge score” (PACD) to predict transfer of adult medical inpatients to a post-acute care facility: study protocol for a multicentre validation study (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Delays in patient discharge can not only lead to deterioration especially among geriatric patients, but also incorporates unnecessary resources at the hospital level. Many of these delays and their negative impact may be preventable by early focused screening to identify patients at risk for transfer to a post-acute care facility. Early interprofessional discharge planning is crucial in order to fit the appropriate individual discharge destination. As prediction of discharge to a post-acute care facility using post-acute care discharge score, the self-care index and a combination of both has been shown in a single centre pilot study, an external validation is still missing. OBJECTIVE This paper outlines the study protocol and methodology currently being used to replicate the previous pilot findings whether the post-acute care discharge score, the self-care index or the combination of both can reliably identify patients requiring transfer to post-acute care facilities. METHODS This study will use prospective data involving all phases of the quasi-experimental study “In-HospiTOOL” conducted at seven Swiss hospitals in urban and rural areas. During a 18-month period consecutive adult medical patients admitted to the hospitals through the emergency department will be included. This data will enable a prospective external validation of the prediction instruments. RESULTS We expect to gain more insight into the predictive capability of the above mentioned prediction instruments. This approach will allow us to get important information about the generalizability of the three different models. CONCLUSIONS This study will provide evidence on prognostic properties, comparative performance, reliability of scorings, and suitability of the instruments for screening purpose in order to be able to recommend application in clinical practice.