Background Research on post-transplant care has predominantly focused on predictors of readmission with little attention to emergency department (ED) visits. The goal of this study was to describe early postoperative ED care of transplant recipients. Methods A secondary database analysis of adult patients who underwent abdominal organ transplantation between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013 and sought ED care within one year post-transplantation was conducted. Survival was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to adjust for pertinent covariates. Results A total of 1,900 abdominal organ transplants were performed during the study period. Of these, 37% (N=711) transplant recipients sought care in the ED (1,343 total visits) with 1.89 mean ED visits per recipient. Of recipients seen in the ED, 58% received a kidney transplant and 28% received a liver transplant, with 45% of recipients presenting within the first 60 postoperative days. The most common chief complaints were gastroenterological (17%) and abnormal laboratory values or vital signs (17%). In total, 74% of recipients were readmitted and 50% of admitted patients were discharged in less than 24 hours. Transplant recipients with ED visits had lower 3-year graft (81% vs. 87%; p<0.001) and patient (89% vs. 93%; p=0.002) survival. Conclusion Transplant recipients have a high frequency of ED visits in the first post-transplantation year and high rates of subsequent hospital admission. Further investigation is needed to understand what drives recipient presentation to the ED and create care models that achieve the best outcomes.

The automated device accurately recorded raw data, but the interpretations provided were overly sensitive and lacked the specificity necessary for a screening or diagnostic examination.

No abstract

Over the past 5 years, early hospital readmissions have become a national focus. With several recent publications highlighting the high rates of early hospital readmissions among transplant recipients, more work is needed to identify risk factors and strategies for reducing unnecessary readmissions among this patient population. Although the American Society of Transplant Surgeons is advocating the exclusion of transplant recipients from the calculation of hospital readmission rates, the outcome of their advocacy efforts remains uncertain. One potential strategy for reducing early hospital readmissions is to critically examine care received by transplant recipients in the emergency department (ED), a critical pathway to readmission. As a starting point, research is needed to assess rates of ED presentation among transplant recipients, diagnostic algorithms, and communication among clinical teams. Mixed-methods studies that enhance understanding of system-level barriers to optimized evaluation and treatment of transplant recipients in the ED may lead to quality improvement interventions that reduce unnecessary readmissions, even if the rates of transplant recipients presenting to the ED remains high.

No abstract