The Association between Home Health Nursing and 30-Day Hospital Readmission after Tracheostomy in Children

Abstract

To identify the association between home health nursing (HHN) and hospital readmissions for patients discharged after tracheostomy placement, we conducted a single-center prospective cohort study of children ages 0 to 21 years who underwent tracheostomy placement at Children's Hospital Los Angeles between 12/2016 and 2/2023 and were discharged to home. We collected demographic, clinical, and discharge variables for the index hospitalization to test the association between our primary exposure, HHN after discharge, and 30-day same-hospital all-cause, adjusting for potential confounders. Our population of 130 children was primarily male, of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and on public insurance. The majority of patients (57%) received HHN on discharge and the 30-day readmission rate was 14.6%. On multivariable analysis, HHN was not associated with readmission for children discharged on home mechanical ventilation [HMV; adjusted OR (aOR = 1.11; 95% CI: 0.30-4.02)] but was associated with lower odds of all-cause 30-day readmission in children discharged without HMV (aOR = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.02-0.81). Our findings support consideration for HHN as a hospital-to-home bridge for children after tracheostomy placement to decrease hospital readmissions and support parents and caregivers during this transition period.