Feasibility and acceptability of post-hospitalization discharge calls to caregivers of Veterans with dementia: A quality improvement project.

Informal caregivers hold an important role in ensuring a smooth transition from hospital to home for persons with dementia. In this quality improvement project we evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a caregiver-focused, nurse-led post discharge call to caregivers of Veterans with dementia recently discharged from a single medical center. The call focused on assessing caregiver preparedness and identifying unmet needs. Thirty caregivers met inclusion criteria and 19 caregivers participated. Results suggested most caregivers of recently hospitalized Veterans with dementia can be identified, contacted, and interviewed to assess caregiving needs. However, sustainability was challenged by the significant time and resources required to screen and identify caregivers. Future iterations may focus on deployment of an electronic health record tool to improve the efficiency at which caregiver information is located, documented, and used to inform clinical decisions and allow for conduct of caregiver-focused interventions.