Among 236 surveyed internal medicine residents who felt confident in their ability to transition to post-acute care, only 31% knew how often patients received skilled therapies at skilled nursing facilities, a recent study found.

Furthermore only 23% of residents knew how frequently nursing services are provided at SNFs and only 55% reported always completing discharge summaries to SNFs, the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) reported. The research showed that gaps still exist in internal medicine education regarding a resident’s understanding of post-acute and long-term care.

“This national survey of internal medicine residents identified common knowledge gaps regarding post-acute care (PAC),” researchers noted. “These knowledge gaps did not improve throughout residency without deliberate exposure to PAC environments.”

Residents who experienced a clinical rotation at a SNF were shown to have more knowledge of post-acute care than those who did not. However, gaps formed in the knowledge of home health care services usage in post-acute care.

“Upper-level residents were more likely to know how much therapy patients received at a SNF, but resident knowledge about PAC did not vary by residency year in other domains,” the researchers said.

Surveys were conducted online and were administered to internal medicine and medicine pediatrics residents at three university-based internal medicine training programs in the United States.

The researchers felt this lack of understanding of post-acute care had significant implications on the quality of care patients received. They suggested that developing resident education to focus more on post-acute care generally and post-acute care discharge could be one way to bridge the knowledge gap.

“This suggests a need for dedicated curriculum development as discharges to post-acute care continue to rise exponentially,” the researchers wrote.