A Quality Improvement Project Educating Behavioral Health Clinicians on the Utility of the READMIT Clinical Index to Predict Risk of Psychiatric Re-Hospitalization of Adults

Abstract Background: The need for preventative means to reduce the high percentage of adult psychiatric readmission rates is striking. Increased cost of readmission for psychiatric higher level of care and the decline in the individuals’ ability to live in the community are clear indicators of this crisis. Purpose: The aim of this quality improvement project was to present the current evidence around the READMIT clinical risk index to identify adults who may be at risk for early psychiatric readmission to community based behavioral health clinicians. Methods: The project was designed using a quality improvement (QI) approach with the aim of enhancing nursing knowledge of clinicians through a presentation covering the use of the READMIT clinical risk index. Data collection included the analyzation of scores from a pre presentation and post presentation test; a Likelihood of Use survey and the percentage of clinicians who used the index during a two-month roll out period. Results: Twenty-two behavioral health clinicians participated in the presentation on the READMIT index. The results of the pre and post-test analysis demonstrated the average learning gain was 87.50%, which exceeded the objective of 80%. Additionally, the majority (76.18%) of the behavioral health clinicians responded that they felt the clinical risk index is a valuable assessment tool. However, data retrieval demonstrated that none of the participants had used the READMIT clinical risk index during the roll out period. Conclusion: The participants responded positively about the effectiveness of the risk index as evidenced by the responses on the Likelihood of Use survey. Further steps are needed to encourage the targeted use of the READMIT index in everyday practice. Keywords: education, training, clinicians, community mental health, psychiatric re-hospitalization, intervention, guidelines, patient outcome