“I think poor discharge planning is that top contributor [to readmission]. And by that, I mean discharge planning that doesn’t assess a patient’s educational level, their support at home, what resources they have, like transportation and finances, and then to go further, evaluating if the patient even understand the reason they were admitted and then how to manage their care once they leave. There’s only so much we can treat in the hospital. what happens at home is what we need to prepare our patients for,” Stephanie Frost, MN, RN, OCN^®, manager of outpatient clinics at City of Hope Cancer Center Chicago in Illinois, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about preventing hospital readmissions in patients with cancer.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 

Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by July 26, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to nursing strategies to reduce readmission rates for patients with cancer.

Episode Notes

• Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. 
• Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes:
  • Cancer Symptom Management Basics series
  • Episode 193: How Social Determinants of Health Affect Cardio-Oncology Survivorship
  • Episode 107: Social Determinants Lead to Unequal Access to Health Care
• ONS Congress^® presentations:
  • Implementing Continuous Care Program and Streamlined Care Team Communication to Reduce Hospital Readmission and Emergency Department Visits (coauthored by Stephanie Frost)
  • Improving Readmission Rates Through Transitional Care Management for Oncology Patients at Highest Risk for Readmission
• ONS Voice articles:
  • Cross-Discipline Cancer Care: Oncology Nurses Share Specialized Knowledge With Non-Oncology Settings
  • Postdischarge ICI Patient Education Eliminates Hospital Readmissions
  • Symptom Management Strategies You May Not Be Using
  • Transitions in Care: Communication Builds a Bridge of Consistent Support for Patients
• ONS books:
  • Oncology Nurse Navigation: Delivering Patient-Centered Care Across the Continuum (second edition)
  • Telephone Triage for Oncology Nurses (third edition)
• ONS courses: Treatment and Symptom Management—Oncology RN
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles:
  • Decreasing Readmission Rates in Patients With Immune-Mediated Toxicities Using an APRN-Led Discharge Teaching Program
  • Patient Handoff Processes: Implementation and Effects of Bedside Handoffs, the Teach-Back Method, and Discharge Bundles on an Inpatient Oncology Unit
• Oncology Nursing Forum articles:
  • Predictors of Unplanned Hospitalizations in Patients With Nonmetastatic Lung Cancer During Chemotherapy
  • Systematic Review of Hospital Readmissions Among Patients With Cancer in the United States
• ONS Huddle Card: Handoff Communication
• ONS Guidelines^™ and Symptom Interventions
• Healthy People 2030: Social Determinants of Health
• Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology article: Uncovering and Addressing Implicit Bias in Oncology

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast™ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

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