Therapists Predict Discharge Destination More Accurately Than the AM-PAC “6 Clicks” at Evaluation and Discharge for Patients With Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Graft

Abstract

Background: Clinicians and hospital care coordinators seek effective tools to assist with reducing length of stay, delivering appropriate postacute care services, and reducing readmissions for patients following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. Objective: To evaluate whether the discharge recommendation by the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) “6 Clicks” Inpatient Basic Mobility and Daily Activity Short Forms agreed with therapists' recommendation and actual discharge disposition for patients who underwent isolated CABG. Methods: Physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) recorded their respective AM-PAC “6 Clicks” score on a cohort of consecutive patients admitted for isolated CABG between March and April 2020. The level of agreement was compared between AM-PAC-projected discharge disposition, therapists' recommendation, and actual discharge disposition. Results: There were 58 patients who received discharge recommendations from PTs and OTs following isolated CABG. Upon PT initial evaluation, the AM-PAC “6 Clicks” Basic Mobility tool recommended postacute placement in all 58 (100%) cases, whereas PTs recommended postacute placement for only 1 (2%). Similarly, the AM-PAC “6 Clicks” Daily Activity tool recommended postacute placement in all 58 (100%) cases, whereas OTs recommended discharge to home for 44 (76%) cases and recommended further assessment of discharge needs on the remaining 14 (24%). At the final session, the AM-PAC “6 Clicks” Basic Mobility tool recommended postacute placement in 56 (98%) cases and PTs recommended discharge to home in all 58 (100%) cases. The AM-PAC “6 Clicks” Daily Activity tool recommended postacute placement for 25 (43%) cases, whereas OTs recommended discharge to home for 55 (95%) cases. Nearly all (56; 97%) patients were discharged to home, with the remaining 2 (3%) discharged to postacute placement. The 30- day readmission rate was 2%. Conclusion: We found the PT/OT recommendations were strongly associated with discharge disposition, but that the AM-PAC “6 Clicks” scores had poor agreement with therapists' recommendations and with actual discharge dispositions for patients with isolated CABG. The utility of this tool should be explored in other cardiac patient populations, such as valve replacements with and without sternotomy, and heart failure, to corroborate the results.