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How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

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Hospital readmissions are costly and stressful for patients, families, and health care systems. They can also indicate poor quality of care or lack of support after discharge. Peer support is a promising strategy to reduce hospital readmissions by providing emotional, practical, and informational assistance from people who have lived experience of similar health conditions or situations. In this article, we will explore how peer support can reduce hospital readmissions and what are some of the benefits and challenges of implementing it.

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Syed Hassan Imtiaz Nadvee

Epidemiologist | Development Worker | Political activist

1 What is peer support?

Peer support is a form of mutual aid, where people who share a common experience or challenge offer each other support, empathy, and guidance. Peer support can take place in different settings, such as groups, online platforms, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings. Peer support can complement professional services, but it is not a substitute for them. Peer support is based on the principles of respect, trust, empowerment, and recovery.

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Syed Hassan Imtiaz Nadvee

Epidemiologist | Development Worker | Political activist
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Peer support is like patient support groups. Though it is built upon the philosophy of sharing experience, it can help people with necessary information needed for primary caregiving. Peer support can act as the first response in the homestead, especially for non-communicable diseases.

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Emily Kaburu

Health System Researcher/Consultant/ African Union Scholar/ PhD Candidate in Reproductive Health Sciences
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I agree that peer support can reduce hospital readmission. This is because members in the group follow up on the patient and based on their experiences they can also give advice on do's and don't's. In most of the cases the support can prevent re-infections or progression of the disease. The patient has the advantage of getting to know what works and what does not. Additionally, since most of the peer group members get to see different health practitioners then they have a wealth of information/ knowledge from their providers. From which they can leverage on thus minimising the chance of the disease getting worse or readmission.

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2 How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

Peer support can reduce hospital readmissions by tackling some of the factors that lead to them, such as isolation, stigma, low self-efficacy, medication non-adherence, lack of knowledge, or poor coping skills. Through peer support, patients can benefit from feeling less isolated and more connected to others who understand their situation. Additionally, they can gain hope and motivation to manage their condition and recovery goals, learn from the experiences of their peers, develop skills and strategies to cope with stress and triggers, adhere to their treatment plan and follow-up appointments, navigate the health care system and access necessary services, as well as advocate for their rights and preferences.

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Syed Hassan Imtiaz Nadvee

Epidemiologist | Development Worker | Political activist
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In many countries, older patients are accompanied by younger caregivers who have better literacy. These young people can be trained on basic requirements for taking care of older patients. It may increase various indicators like adhering to the drug regimen, providing psychosocial support, taking notes of physical discomforts, etc in a positive way.

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3 What are the benefits of peer support?

Peer support can have a range of positive impacts for patients, peers, and health care systems. These benefits include improved physical and mental health outcomes, reduced health care utilization and costs, enhanced social and personal recovery, increased knowledge and skills, as well as a strengthened peer workforce and community. For instance, peer support can lead to reduced symptoms, improved quality of life, increased satisfaction with care, fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions, increased social support, self-esteem, empowerment, better understanding of their condition and treatment options, as well as increased employment opportunities, peer recognition, and peer leadership.

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Syed Hassan Imtiaz Nadvee

Epidemiologist | Development Worker | Political activist
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It also creates a trained human resource in the primary health-level. People who are in a support group can make better decisions in future and understand hospital communication. Albeit, they increase the overall awareness. Moreover, it paves the way for civil society engagement and includes people from diverse background.

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4 What are the challenges of peer support?

Peer support is not without its challenges, and there are several barriers and limitations to its implementation and effectiveness. These include a lack of awareness and recognition of the value and role of peer support among patients, professionals, and policymakers, as well as a lack of funding, training, supervision, and evaluation of peer support programs and services. Standards, guidelines, and accreditation for peer support practice are also needed for quality assurance. Additionally, there is a need for greater diversity and inclusion of peers from different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives. Furthermore, integration and collaboration of peer support with other health care services and providers is essential. Lastly, ethical and legal frameworks and safeguards for peer support practice must be established to ensure confidentiality.

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5 How can we overcome the challenges of peer support?

Peer support is a dynamic and evolving field that has immense potential to improve the quality and impact of patient care. To maximize the benefits of peer support, there are a number of initiatives that need to be taken, such as raising awareness and education of the evidence-based benefits, securing and allocating adequate and sustainable funding, developing and implementing training, supervision, and evaluation programs, establishing standards and accreditation for quality assurance, promoting diversity and inclusion of peers, facilitating integration with other health care services, and developing ethical frameworks for practice. By overcoming these challenges, we can make peer support more accessible, acceptable, and accountable for everyone who needs it.

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6 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that donâ€™t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Peer Support

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How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

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1 What is peer support?

2 How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

3 What are the benefits of peer support?

4 What are the challenges of peer support?

5 How can we overcome the challenges of peer support?

6 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

Peer Support

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How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 What is peer support?

2 How can peer support reduce hospital readmissions?

3 What are the benefits of peer support?

4 What are the challenges of peer support?

5 How can we overcome the challenges of peer support?

6 Hereâ€™s what else to consider

Peer Support

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