Book Description

Survivors of acute kidney injury (AKI) are at risk for short and long-term complications, as a result of small acute changes in renal function. Complications include progression of renal disease, cardiovascular (CV) changes, hospital readmissions, and death. These complications may impact the patient's health and quality of life; it is also a financial burden on the healthcare system. Current guidelines recommend outpatient nephrology follow up less than 90 days. The purpose of this practice improvement project is to determine if the frequency of follow-up care slows the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), reduces readmissions, prevents CV disease, and reduces mortality rates. A one-year evaluation was completed of 107 hospitalized patients with an initial diagnosis of AKI, using a retrospective, correlational, quantitative research design to collect data. Independent variables were the number of days to initial outpatient nephrology follow-up and frequency of follow-up appointments. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, correlational tests, and frequency analysis. The significant findings revealed patients following up in less than 30 days after discharge were less like to be rehospitalized than those patients that had an initial follow-up greater than 30 days (p= .059) or not all (p= .023). Additionally, it was noted that more frequent follow up visits delayed the time to first readmission (p= .029).