Implementation and assessment of a required transitions-of-care residency rotation.

Purpose: The implementation of a required residency rotation in transitions of care (TOCs) and the resulting resident-led clinical interventions and learning experiences are described.

Summary: A newly required four-week TOC rotation was implemented for postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Unlike acute care rotations, this learning experience encouraged residents to focus on providing direct patient care in a holistic manner and use pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies to improve patient outcomes.

STAAR: improving the reliability of care coordination and reducing hospital readmissions in an academic medical centre.

Setting: Massachusetts General Hospital embarked on a 4-year project to reduce readmissions in a high volume general medicine unit (November 2009 to September 2013).

Objective: To reduce 30-day readmissions to 10% through improved care coordination.

Design: As a before-after study, a total of 7586 patients admitted to the medicine unit during the intervention period included 2620 inpatients meeting high risk for readmission criteria.