The Effect of Rehospitalization and Emergency Department Visits on Subsequent Adherence to Weight Telemonitoring.
Sarah C Haynes, Daniel J Tancredi, Kathleen Tong and 7 others
PMID 32398500WHAT IT FOUND
After heart failure hospitalization, daily weighing adherence fell nearly 20% in the next two weeks.
Emergency department visits did not change adherence. Neither event prompted patients to weigh themselves more.
Key findings
01Adherence to daily weighing decreased by nearly 20% in the 2 weeks after a hospitalization compared with the 2 weeks before.
02Emergency department visits alone were not associated with a change in adherence rates.
03After excluding hospitalizations that ended in discharge to a skilled nursing facility, adherence still decreased by 13%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis used only participants assigned to telemonitoring who transmitted at least 1 weight value, and then only the 292 who had a hospitalization or emergency department visit, so it cannot describe all 722 assigned participants. Days in hospital or the emergency department were removed from the adherence denominator, and some analysis intervals were shorter than 14 days. No data were available on how long patients stayed in a skilled nursing facility, why they were readmitted, or whether they moved to hospice care. The study did not account for how study staff communicated with patients after hospitalization, scheduled visits or calls, or technical problems with the scale. The data came from a telemonitoring intervention conducted in 2011-2013.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest to disclose.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telemonitoring caused the nearly 20% drop in daily weighing after hospitalization. The study only observed participants already assigned to telemonitoring, and it did not randomize hospitalization or emergency department visits.