Outcomes of a New Nursing Home Weekend Call Program on Emergency Department Referrals and Hospital Re-admission Rates Presenting Author: Renee M. Banaszak, MD East Carolina University, Department

of Family Medicine, Division of Geriatrics Author(s): Renee M. Banaszak, MD, Joon Tae Lee, MD, Daree Russell, MD, and Kenneth Steinweg, MD Background: The Department of Family Medicine (DOFM) at Vidant Medical Center is the largest provider of Nursing Home PI3K inhibitor (NH) services in Greenville, NC. The average daily NH census is approximately 180 patients located in four different facilities. The challenge with managing such a large pool of patients is in providing continuous call coverage while minimizing unnecessary health care expenditures for emergency room visits and hospital re-admissions. In previous years, NH weekend and holiday calls were taken by a senior Family Medicine resident who was simultaneously managing the DOFM inpatient service and taking afterhours calls from the outpatient practice. This posed a significant degree of patient care on that one individual and resulted in the resident having Vemurafenib little time for NH patient management. The end result was the inability to make on-site visits to the nursing homes to address immediate concerns, which likely resulted in more ER visits and readmissions. Objective/Aim: To determine if specified staff, available only for NH consultations by phone and onsite visits during weekends

and holidays, would substantially reduce

the number of ER visits, lower hospital readmission rates and reduce associated costs. Quality Improvement Methods: A two year study was designed to determine if this on-call team, consisting of Geriatric Fellows, PA’s and FNP’s, would be able to reduce hospitalizations and thereby reduce cost. Each on call provider was free of other duties and available to make on-site visits if needed and had access to the office and hospital electronic record from home. All calls were logged and analyzed on an individual basis from Gefitinib price May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2012. Each provider made note if their instructions by phone or an onsite visit avoided an emergency room visit or hospital admission. Conclusion: The provision of dedicated medical professionals to weekend and holiday NH call coverage provided better continuity of care for a large practice of NH patients, resulted in low utilization of ER and hospital services, a provided substantial cost savings to the health care system. Author Disclosures: Renee M. Banaszak, MD has stated there are no financial disclosures to be made that are pertinent to this abstract. “
“It is with profound regret that we report the death of Professor RB (Bob) Clark, the founder and long time editor of The Marine Pollution Bulletin. He died quietly at his home on 28th September 2013, shortly before his 90th Birthday. He is survived by his wife Sue, daughter Juliet, son Stephen and his grandson Gus.