Patient transitions between nursing homes and emergency departments

Project summary

Older adults are the largest recipients of acute healthcare services and represent the highest number of emergency department admissions. Patient transitions can be complex, confusing, challenging and stress-inducing. Older adults experience challenges in patient transitions due to comorbidity (multiple life-threatening diagnosis), must relate to several healthcare personnel, atypical symptoms, dependency, complex care needs, polypharmacy in addition to delayed assessment and diagnostics. The healthcare professionals lack proper tools for assessment and treatment of acutely ill older adults.

 

The project aims to identify relevant interventions for acutely ill older adults transitioning between nursing homes and emergency departments. By researching healthcare professional experiences from nursing homes, ambulance, out of hours primary care and emergency department in addition to experiences from nursing home residents and their close family, this project aims to identify the following: What happens? What works? What doesn`t work? Which interventions can promote healthy transitions between nursing homes and emergency departments?

 

This project is a part of a larger project titled: «From Knowledge to Action» (K2A), financed by the Research Council of Norway