Trial reportJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2021
Telephone follow-up to reduce unplanned hospital returns for older emergency department patients: A randomized trial.
Trial report in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of an Advanced Community Paramedic Program to Shorten or Prevent Hospitalizations: A Pragmatic, Point-of-Care, Randomized Clinical Trial.Annals of family medicine · 2026Trial
- Frequencies and reasons for unplanned emergency department return visits by older adults: a cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Trial
- Telephone follow-up to reduce unplanned hospital returns for older emergency department patients: A randomized trial.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2021Trial
- Article
- The effectiveness of interventions on clinical and patient-reported outcomes in hospital-to-home transitions of older adults: a systematic review.European journal of ageing · 2025Review
- Critical revisits after discharge from the emergency department.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Access to the internet and mobile applications in a mixed population emergency department: A repeated cross-sectional survey.PEC innovation · 2024Article
- ChatGPT's Role in Improving Education Among Patients Seeking Emergency Medical Treatment.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Nurse-led medication management as a critical component of transitional care for preventing drug-related problems.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2024Review
- Implementation of a novel computer assisted telephone follow-up model for older patients after emergency department discharge in an Asian population.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2024Article
- A mapping review of interventions to address patients who frequently seek care in the emergency department.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Observational
- Strategies for improving ED-related outcomes of older adults who seek care in emergency departments: a systematic review.International journal of emergency medicine · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesTelephone follow-up calls could optimize the transition from the emergency department (ED) to home for older patients. However, the effects on hospital return rates are not clear. We investigated whether telephone follow-up reduces unplanned hospitalizations and/or unplanned ED return visits within 30 days of ED discharge.
designPragmatic randomized controlled trial with allocation by month; odd months intervention group, even months control group.
settingTwo ED locations of a non-academic teaching hospital in The Netherlands.
participantsCommunity-dwelling adults aged ≥70 years, discharged home from the ED were randomized to the intervention group (N = 4732) or control group (N = 5104).
interventionIntervention group patients: semi-scripted telephone call from an ED nurse within 24 h after discharge to identify post-discharge problems and review discharge instructions. Control group patients: scripted satisfaction survey telephone call. MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcome: total number of unplanned hospitalizations and/or ED return visits within 30 days of ED discharge. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: separate numbers of unplanned hospitalizations and ED return visits. Subgroup analysis by age, sex, living condition, and degree of crowding in the ED at discharge.
resultsOverall, 42% were males, and median age was 78 years. In the intervention group, 1516 of 4732 patients (32%) consented, and in the control group 1659 of 5104 (33%) patients. Unplanned 30-day hospitalization and/or ED return visit was found in 16% of intervention group patients and 14% of control group patients (odds ratio 1.16; 95% confidence interval: 0.96-1.42). Also, no statistically significant differences were found in secondary outcome measures. Within the subgroups, the intervention did not have beneficial effects for the intervention group.
conclusionTelephone follow-up after ED discharge in older patients did not result in reduction of unplanned hospital admissions and/or ED return visits within 30 days. These results raise the question of whether other outcomes could be improved by post-discharge ED telephone follow-up.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.