Abstract
© 2014 Shaw et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Highlights
Managed transitions from hospital to home for elderly patients with complex needs often exacerbate detriments to health and function associated with acute inpatient hospital stays
Materials and methods We used an ethnographic case study methodology to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between policy and practice for patient transitions, including the following methods: (a) observation of inter-professional team meetings in the hospital and community settings, (b) qualitative interviews with key informants including health care leaders, commissioners of care, practitioners, and patients, (c) analysis of policies at the national and local levels related to patient transitions, and (d) patient chart reviews
Findings suggest that the implementation of policies for patient transitions relied on informal practices and relationships at the individual, organizational, and interorganizational levels as opposed to formal mechanisms of control embedded in national policy
Summary
Managed transitions from hospital to home for elderly patients with complex needs (commonly referred to as patient discharge) often exacerbate detriments to health and function associated with acute inpatient hospital stays. The English National Health Service introduced the Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Act in 2003 to improve the transition process, but the ways in which this policy is interpreted and applied in actual contexts of health and social care remain underexplored using qualitative methodologies. The purpose of this study was to understand the complex interrelationship between policies related to discharge from hospital and the practice of helping older people transition from hospital to home in London, United Kingdom
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
