Interventions incorporating a multi-disciplinary team approach and a dedicated care team can help reduce preventable hospital readmissions of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A scoping review of current literature.

Abstract

This review aimed to identify interventions that hospitals can implement to reduce preventable hospital readmissions of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A scoping review framework was utilised to inform the overall process. The electronic databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline, the University of New England (UNE) library search engine and Google Scholar were utilised to search for relevant literature. The results from this review demonstrate that interventions started at index admission for people diagnosed with T2DM can result in reductions in hospital readmissions. Common strategies which attributed to the success of interventions in reducing hospital readmissions of people with T2DM included a multidisciplinary team approach, a dedicated care team, certified diabetes educator appointments, basic survival skills education and influencing hospital protocol development and implementation. This scoping review is an attempt at exploring and synthesising current research on interventions that hospitals can implement to reduce preventable hospital readmissions of people with T2DM.