An Early Screening Tool for Discharge Planning Shortened Length of Hospital Stay for Elderly Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia is one of the most common diseases in elderly persons and usually results in a prolonged hospital stay. Discharge planning plays an important role in reducing the length of hospitalization. This study was designed to determine whether early screening for risk factors for delayed discharge could improve the quality of discharge planning. METHODS: This retrospective, observational study was conducted in two medical facilities from January 2016 to December 2018. Hospital A used a screening tool on admission (screening group): screening for risk factors for delayed discharge and initiating discharge planning immediately for those for whom it was applicable, and discharge planning in the stable phase for those for whom it was not applicable; and Hospital B initiated discharge planning without screening (usual group). Propensity score-matched pneumonia patients in the two groups were then compared. The primary outcome was length of hospital stay. RESULTS: A total of 648 patients were enrolled in this study. After adjusting for age, sex, aspiration, comorbidity, pneumonia severity index, and key person, 118 pairs underwent analysis. Length of stay was significantly different (20 days vs 13 days, p<0.001) between the groups. There were no differences in duration of antibiotic treatment, in-hospital mortality, and 30-day readmission (9 days vs 9 days, p=0.744; 10 (8.5%) vs 10 (8.5%), p=1.000; 10 (8.5%) vs 9 (7.6%), p=0.811, respectively). CONCLUSION: Early screening for delayed discharge improved the quality of discharge planning by reducing the length of stay in pneumonia patients.