Controlled interventions for improving healthcare transitions among older people living in care homes: A mixed-method systematic review

Background

More than 400,000 older people live in care homes or nursing homes in the UK. Up to half of them experience at least one unplanned hospital admission. Transitions across healthcare settings are stressful periods for all involved parties (patients, informal carers and staff in healthcare or at care homes) while patients are more likely to be harmed. We currently do not know which interventions could improve the quality of patient care during care transitions.

Aims

We will try to understand (a) effective types of transitional care interventions tested in people living in care homes; (b) the role of primary care and social care in the delivery of those interventions and (c) other barriers and facilitators in implementing transitional care interventions for care home residents.

Methods

We plan a systematic review of the literature which will bring together the evidence from quantitative evaluations of transitional care interventions and qualitative studies attached to these evaluations.

Impact

At the end of this study, we will know which types of transitional care interventions are associated with better patient care outcomes. We will send lay summaries to patient and professional organisations and the NHS which will describe the main findings of the study and practice recommendations. This study will help to find ways to improve the quality of care for older people living in care homes and reduce unplanned hospital admissions and patient safety risks.

Stakeholder involvement and dissemination: We will hold discussion throughout the study to take into account the patients’ views and stakeholders’ perspectives. We will use our channels within the Evidence Synthesis Working Group and the NIHR Greater Manchester PSTRC communicate our findings.