Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2026
Language
English
Document Type
DNP Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Kirsten Drake
Abstract
Aim: To evaluate the impact of a nurse-led discharge education bundle on seven-day all-cause hospital readmissions among adult patients discharged from a medical telemetry unit.
Background: Early hospital readmissions may reflect gaps in discharge preparation, patient understanding, and post-discharge support. Nurse-led transitional care strategies may strengthen patients' ability to manage care following hospitalization.
Methods: A quality improvement (QI) project was implemented on a 24-bed medical telemetry unit in an acute care hospital. The eight-week implementation incorporated teach-back education, simplified written discharge instructions, mobile application education, and nurse-led follow-up calls within 48–72 hours after discharge. Seven-day all-cause readmission rates were compared between pre-intervention and post-intervention groups.
Results: The analysis included 433 patients: 200 pre-implementation and 233 post-implementation. Seven-day readmissions decreased from 15.0% (30/200) before implementation to 4.3% (10/233) after implementation. The difference was statistically significant, χ²(1, N = 433) = 14.718, p < .001.
Conclusions: Implementation of a nurse-led discharge education bundle was associated with a significant reduction in seven-day all-cause hospital readmissions.
Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse leaders can support standardized discharge education, teach-back, digital resources, and early post-discharge follow-up as part of quality improvement strategies to strengthen care transitions and patient outcomes.
Keywords
patient discharge; patient readmission; transitional care; teach-back communication; quality improvement
Disciplines
Other Nursing
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Mai, Kim-Dung, "Preventing All-Cause Seven-Day Hospital Readmissions on the Medical Telemetry Unit" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects. 43.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/nursing_dnpprojects2/43