This study aimed to gain insight into patients' experiences, perceptions, and needs regarding hospital-to-home transition, focusing on allied healthcare as a first step towards the development of a transitional integrated allied healthcare pathway for patients with complex care needs after hospital discharge.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with patients. Participants were recruited from university and general hospitals in the Amsterdam region between May-July 2023. They were eligible if they: 1) were discharged from hospital minimally 3 and maximally 12 months after admission to an oncologic surgery department, internal medicine department, intensive care unit, or trauma center, 2) received hospital-based care from at least one allied healthcare provider, who visited the patient at least twice during hospital admission, 3) spoke Dutch or English, and 4) were 18 years or older. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. We performed a thematic analysis of the interview data.
19 patients were interviewed. Three themes emerged from the analysis. "Allied healthcare support during transition" depicts patients' positive experiences when they felt supported by allied health professionals during the hospital-to-home transition. "Patient and family involvement" illustrates how much patients value involvement of their family members during discharge planning. "Information recall and processing" portrays the challenges of understanding and remembering overwhelming amounts of information, sometimes unclear and provided at the wrong moment. Overall, patients' experiences of transitional care were positive when they were involved in the discharge process. Negative experiences occurred when their preferences for post-discharge communication were ignored.
This study suggests that allied health professionals need to continuously collaborate and communicate with each other to provide patients and their families with the personalized support they need. To provide high-quality and person-centered care, it is essential to consider how, when, and what information to provide to patients and their families to allow them to contribute to their recovery actively. Future work should focus on summarizing the experiences of healthcare professionals with transitional care, utilizing insights from both patients and professionals to build optimizations that enhance the transition from hospital to home.
- Patients and their families need to receive tailored information and support, which are prerequisites for a seamless transition from hospital to home.
- Professionals must communicate effectively within and across hospital and primary care settings.
- Integrated allied health pathways addressing coordination and communication are needed to ensure seamless transitions.
Allied healthcare
Hospital
