Policy and Practice for Patient Transitions (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Inter-Organizational Collaboration for Patient Transitions: Exploring the Relationship between Policy and Practice in England and Canada
IRAS ID
121933
Contact name
James Shaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brunel University
Research summary
Poorly managed efforts to help elderly patients go home after a stay in the hospital can cause further problems of health and function related to hospital stays. Evidence suggests that complications arise when helping people go home after hospital due to poor collaboration between the organizations involved, resulting in uncoordinated timing, poor communication of patient information, and poor preparation of patients and caregivers. Research exploring factors that influence collaboration for patients going home from hospitals has focused on the impact of government policies that legislate better collaboration, and health care practitioner perspectives on communication to improve collaboration. Yet studies of helping patients home from hospital have largely neglected the relationship between policy and practice and how this influences efforts to help elderly patients get home. As a result, how policy and practice are related and in what ways they enable and/or constrain communication and collaboration to help patients get home is poorly understood.
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between policy and practice for patients going from hospital to home through a case comparison in England and Canada. Using a comparative case study, we will (a) conduct document analyses regarding policies related to patients going home, (b) engage health care practitioners, older patients/families, and other key stakeholders (e.g. managers, policy analysts) in individual interviews regarding their perceptions and experiences of supporting patients going home, (c) observe meetings wherein health care practitioners discuss the best ways to get elderly patients home, and (d) review patient notes (health care records) to examine information relevant to helping patients move home. Interviews will be analyzed from a critical perspective, and findings will be compared between the two cases (England and Canada) to develop a rich understanding of collaboration between health care organizations when helping patients go home.
REC name
London - Riverside Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/0396
Date of REC Opinion
20 May 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion