Congratulations to Cristina Hendrix, chair of the Clinical Health Systems & Analytics Division, and the entire DEFT team for the award of the Duke University Hospital (DUH) and Duke School of Nursing DEFT collaboration for COVID-19 Redesign Readmission Reduction supported by Chancellor-directed fund. This award is for one year with a start date of March 19, 2021.

The project is a collaboration between DUH-CRR and DEFT to provide an enhanced discharge education and support to caregivers of patients going home with COVID-19. The primary outcomes include a reduction in either seven-day or 30-day readmissions of COVID-19 patients and an increased level of preparedness in caregiving among COVID-19 caregivers. As secondary outcomes, the project aims to improve the discharge experience of caregivers and patients at DUH. The project will explore the impact of our proposed project to patient’s length of stay with an overarching goal to develop evidence-based materials and approaches to COVID-19 education and support that DUH-CRR team can integrate in their workflow using their current workforce.