Zhongguo quanke yixue (Oct 2023)
A Meta-synthesis of Qualitative Studies on the Real Experiences and Care Experience during Hospital-to-home Transition for Elderly Patients with Chronic Diseases
Abstract
Background Understanding the real experiences of elderly patients with chronic diseases during hospital-to-home transition and their expectations of care services can help promote the quality improvement of care services during the transition. In recent years, qualitative studies on real experiences of elderly patients with chronic diseases during the hospital-to-home transition and their experience of care services have gradually increased, however, the results of single qualitative study may not be generalizable and representative. Objective To systematically evaluate qualitative studies on the real experiences of elderly patients with chronic diseases during the hospital-to-home transition and their experience of care services. Methods In May 2022, PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, EmBase, CINAHL, CNKI, and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform were searched for the qualitative studies on the real experiences of elderly patients with chronic diseases during hospital-to-home transition and their experience of care services from inception to May 2022. Two researchers separately screened the literature and extracted data, evaluated the quality of included studies according to the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) developed by evidence-based medicine center of University of Oxford. Meta synthesis was applied to integrate the results of the studies. Results A total of 13 studies were included with 45 research results extracted, and 3 synthesized findings were integrated from 8 categories grouped by similar findings, including barriers to care services during hospital-to-home transition for elderly patients with chronic diseases; facilitators of care services during hospital-to-home transition for elderly patients with chronic diseases; expectations of elderly patients with chronic diseases for care services during hospital-to-home transition. Conclusion Hospital-to-home transition of elderly patients with chronic diseases is a challenging process, and there is still much room for improvement in the quality of care services during the transition. Families, communities, medical institutions, government, and society should actively improve the transition conditions for elderly patients at the individual, community, and social levels. The safe hospital-to-home transition of elderly patients with chronic diseases can be promoted by enhancing education for patients during transition, improving self-management abilities of patients, and providing nurse-led care services during transition.
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