Bimonthly Medical Visits Reduce Sickle Cell Admissions

• Published in: Blood 2018-11, Vol.132 (Supplement 1), p.5815-5815
• Main Authors: Imahiyerobo, Allison A, Billings, Daniel D, Mora, Erika, Eisenberger, Andrew, Diuguid, David L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood-2018-99-119193

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic medical disease that in some patients is characterized by frequent vasoocculsive crisis (VOC). A minority of sickle cell patients comprises a majority of hospital VOC admissions, and the transition to adult care is a particularly high risk time period. We sought to identify if increased frequency of outpatient medical care led to a reduction of hospital days following intervention and if there were improvements in daily function, and reduction of premature requests for opiate refills. Methods: Retrospective review of 11 patients, average age of 25 (range 19-37 years old), 63% were female. Genotype of SCD included 8/11 with SS, 2/11 with SC and 1/11 with SBeta Thal. Sickle cell standard of care medical visits were monthly at our institution. Two nurse practitioners and 2 hematologists at the medical center implemented the intervention of increased frequency of medical visits to bimonthly follow up for between 5 and 48 weeks, with a mean length of 12 weeks of increased frequency of medical visits. Results: In the 6 months preceding intervention there were a total of 300 hospital days of admission for VOC (2 patients