Background:
Reducing hospital readmissions is currently a key priority for the Irish healthcare system (HSE Service Plan, 2014). In 2015, the HSE reported 9.6% of emergency discharges were readmitted to the same hospital within 28 days. Hospital readmission rates vary across patient groups, with older adults at particularly high risk of readmission. Primary care and general practice is central to addressing this problem. Methods
A scoping review will be conducted to establish an evidence-based map of how complex interventions can prevent hospital readmissions among older adults. Stages of the review will include: undertaking a preliminary non-systematic review; building a search strategy; interrogating academic literature databases; classifying and excluding studies based on titles and abstracts; saving the refined database of references; revising the search strategy; selecting and reviewing the full text papers; and thematically analysing the selected texts and writing the report. The review will generate and map the evidence base on this topic. A scientific manuscript will be prepared based on these findings.
Anticipated Results
To examine the impact of hospital readmissions among older adults on general practice and primary care and to describe the content, evaluation, and effectiveness of primary care interventions to address this challenge. .
