Social Connectedness and Successful Nursing Home Discharge After Heart Failure Hospitalization.
Andrew L Chen, Blythe G Chen, Lan Jiang and 7 others
PMID 40854521WHAT IT FOUND
In veterans after heart failure hospitalization who entered skilled nursing care, staff-rated high social connectedness was linked to successful community discharge within 90 days.
It was an association, not proof that boosting connection causes better discharge.
Key findings
01Veterans with high staff-assessed social connectedness had a higher adjusted relative risk of successful discharge from skilled nursing care (RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.13-1.31).
02The association was seen in veterans with dementia or Alzheimer's disease-related conditions (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.16-1.49) and in veterans without diagnosed dementia or Alzheimer's disease-related conditions (RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.04-1.25).
03Veterans with lower social connectedness had higher rates of remaining in skilled nursing care after 90 days than those with high social connectedness (18.5% vs 13.7% with dementia or Alzheimer's disease-related conditions; 14.1% vs 9.1% without dementia or Alzheimer's disease-related conditions).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This was a retrospective cohort study, so it cannot show that social connectedness caused successful discharge; it may be a marker of better baseline health. Social connectedness was measured after skilled nursing admission, and the study had no pre-admission social connectedness data. The cohort was mostly men (97.4%) and mostly White (73.8%), so results may not apply to women or more diverse populations. 89.2% of veterans were classified as having high social connectedness, leaving little room to distinguish risk among most residents. The social connectedness measure came from MDS assessments completed by nursing staff, so it can be affected by assessor bias.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the higher relative risk as proof that increasing social connection will make discharge successful. This was a retrospective cohort study, not a trial of a social connection intervention, and the authors could not determine whether social connectedness caused successful discharge or marked better baseline health.