Optimising the Transition from Home to Hospital
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Optimising the Transition from Home to Hospital: Enhancing Communication between Care Partners to Improve the Quality of Dementia care in Hospital
IRAS ID
194811
Contact name
Courtney Shaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bradford
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 15 days
Research summary
The principle research objective for this project is to improve quality of dementia care in hospitals through enhanced communication between care partners during unscheduled admissions to hospital from home via accident and emergency. Care partners is used to refer to the group of people involved in making care decisions in hospital, typically including a person living with dementia (PLwD), their unpaid carers, and health professionals. The final output of this PhD project will be a supportive intervention(s) which can be used during admission to acute care settings.
Research has shown that (PLwD) tend to stay in hospital longer, have worse medical outcomes, and experience poor care more frequently than their peers without dementia. Research has also shown that caregivers of IWD are generally dissatisfied with the experience of inpatient care in hospitals, and that staff in hospitals often feel they are ill-equipped to cope with patients who have dementia.
Data will be gathered in two ways in this project; firstly through a survey, and then through a series of in depth interviews. This protocol covers the survey portion of the research only. The survey’s goal is to understand the key issues in the admissions process from the perspective of a statistically significant sample of PLwD and their caregivers. The survey will consist primarily of Likert scales, and focus on time spent in A&E prior to an admission to a ward, with a particular focus on experiences of communicating in that environment. Respondents will have an opportunity to share suggestions on improving care in hospital via free text response. The responses from the survey will directly inform the design of the interviewing guides for the next phase of this research. The survey phase of this research is anticipated to take around ten weeks.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1451
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion