Abstract
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are rehospitalized following hospitalization for an exacerbation of COPD are at higher risk of mortality and poor health outcomes. Approximately 20% of patients who are discharged from the hospital following an exacerbation of COPD are readmitted within 30 days. At a home healthcare agency in southeastern United States, 36.4% of patients admitted to the agency with a primary or secondary diagnosis of COPD between August 2018 and January 2019 were rehospitalized within 30 days of admission. A quality improvement project was conducted between January 2019 and July 2019. This project involved implementation of a COPD self-management care plan packet provided by home healthcare nurses to patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of COPD. The 30-day rehospitalizations for patients with COPD decreased from 36.4% preintervention to 15.4% postintervention. The number of patients receiving timely follow-up with their provider increased from 79% preintervention to 88% postintervention, and COPD medication reconciliation at admission improved from 79% preintervention to 84% postintervention. The generalizability of these results is limited due to a small sample size and inconsistencies in intervention implementation.