IntroductionTransitional care and patient handover are important areas to ensure quality and safety in elderly healthcare services. Previous studies showed that healthcare professionals have little knowledge of the setting they are transferring patients to and a limited understanding of roles and functions; these constitute barriers to effective communication and shared care responsibilities across levels of care.AimThe main objective is to implement a cross-level education-based intervention programme with healthcare professionals aimed at (1) increasing professionals’ awareness and competencies about quality and safety in the transitional care of the elderly; (2) creating a discussion platform for knowledge exchange and learning across levels and units of care and (3) improving patient safety culture, in particular, in transitional care.Methods and analysisA quasi-experimental control group study design with an intervention group and a control group; this includes a pretest, post-test and 1-year follow-up test assessment of patient safety culture. Qualitative data will be collected during the intervention programme and between the measurements. The study design will be beneficial for addressing the effects of the cross-level educational intervention programme on reports of patient safety culture and for addressing the feasibility of the intervention measures.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been approved by the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Norway, Ref. No. 2011/1978. The study is based on informed written consent; informants can withdraw from the study at any point in time. The results will be disseminated at research conferences, in peer review journals and through public presentations outside the scientific community.

Transitional care of the elderly: An arena for inter-organisational learning among healthcare staff Background: The study reports findings from an inter-organisational learning intervention, the «Meeting Point», related to transitional care of the elderly across care levels.Objective: To reveal how the intervention, the «Meeting Point», enables inter-organisational learning across primary and specialist healthcare services. Methodology:The design is qualitative and descriptive, using participant observations as the data collection method. About one hundred participants across care levels and professions attended the «Meeting Point» related to transitional care of the elderly. An observational guide was developed and tested based on the theories of knowledge creation and inter-organisational learning. Results:The «Meeting Point» enabled four types of knowledge interaction among healthcare personnel across care levels and professions: socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation. The interaction forms varied in different phases of the learning intervention. Inter-organisational dynamics and characteristics of the participants further enabled inter-organisational learning at the «Meeting Point». Conclusion:The «Meeting Point» met vital criteria for inter-organisational learning, indicating that it should be considered a powerful arena to tailor knowledge interaction related to transitional care of the elderly.

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