Eli's Rehab Report

Keep distress signs front-and-center in your practice.

Recognizing and treating your patients' early respiratory distress can greatly decrease your practice's readmissions rate.

Strategy: Train therapists to spot distress signs. Give them laminated cards to carry with them or post a list of the signs prominently in high-traffic areas where therapists are sure to see them. Keeping the signs top-of-mind will go a long way toward treating the symptoms before they become full-blown illnesses. Therapists can also refer to the list when assessing a patient's health.

You can create your own list of symptoms or use the following list, created by the Ohio State University Medical Center. Once you have respiratory distress under control, you can tackle other common reasons for readmission.