Improving hospital discharge for children requiring home ventilation.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Why can't I go home? Improving hospital discharge for children requiring home ventilation.
IRAS ID
181461
Contact name
Mike Shields
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study is about children who have been in intensive care and have been discharged home from hospital, medically stable, but needing on-going mechanical life support with their breathing. These children need a lot of support at home involving a care package and carers to help parents with managing the breathing support and this takes time to organise. The discharge process can be complicated and prolonged, but some hospitals can discharge without much delay while others face longer delays. In this study we will explore different methods used by hospitals to discharge children to home. Specifically we want to identify features that help or hinder the discharge process. To do this we will collect information about the discharge process used in six hospital sites (one each in NI, Scotland and Wales; and three in England). From each site, the PI (medical consultant) will identify two cases of children who were discharged home requiring mechanical breathing support; one case involving delayed discharge and the other not delayed. The medical consultant will approach and obtain permission from the parents, children (if relevant), and relevant hospital and community staff involved in the discharge process to participate in the study. With consent, we will interview all participants to find out how they viewed the discharge process in each case to identify the features they felt helped or hindered the process. This information will be brought together and examined and from this we hope to explain the features of the discharge process that work well, for different types of cases and in different locations. This information will be useful for clinicians, parents and the hospital in planning the service.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
16/NI/0020
Date of REC Opinion
15 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion