[Are early unforseen rehospitalizations inevitable?]. / Les réhospitalisations précoces imprévues sont-elles évitables?

We randomly selected 198 readmissions to an acute-care hospital within the 3 months following the last discharge during the year 1993 to describe the reasons for planned readmissions and to assess whether unplanned readmissions were appropriate and/or avoidable. 49.5% of readmissions were planned: for medical investigations (45%), surgery (30%), or medical treatments (such as chemotherapy) (18%). Among the 100 unplanned readmissions, 13% were assessed as inappropriate, and 37% as potentially avoidable. Given this high rate of potentially avoidable readmissions, there is a need to identify preventive interventions.