Information sharing with rural family caregivers during care transitions of hip fracture patients

Abstract

Introduction: Following hip fracture surgery, patients often experience multiple transitions through different care settings, with resultant challenges to the quality and continuity of patient care. Family caregivers can play a key role in these transitions, but are often poorly engaged in the process. We aimed to: (1) examine the characteristics of the family caregivers' experience of communication and information sharing and (2) identify facilitators and barriers of effective information sharing among patients, family caregivers and health care providers.

Understanding informal carers’ experiences of caring for older people with a hip fracture: a systematic review of qualitative studies

“…Carers felt lonely, lacking in self-confidence and felt they carried the whole responsibility for providing care; Rydholm Hedman et al [42] expressed this as "suffering from care" and it was more evident among carers of patients with cognitive impairment.…”

“…Luptak [47] iii) Changing needs over time Carers' burden and needs changed during the care transitions between hospital admission and the recovery phase [31,36,38,42,43]. Giosa et al [43] developed a theory of carer's support needs during care transitions connected with their emotional journey.…”

“…During the last phase of the experience, named as 'getting on with it', carers strove for predictability and focused on facilitating social participation for themselves and their relatives. According to Byrne et al [31] i) Wanting to be involved Carers expected to participate and be engaged in the decision-making process [40][41][42][43]48,49]. Most of the carers did not feel incorporated in this process: "No, I actually wasn't (involved).…”

“…I was told kind of after the fact but I wasn't included in the discussions ahead of time even though I requested to be included in all of the discussions" [43 p.144]. For carers of patients with cognitive impairment this was a particular problem [39,42]. Being involved and being aware of what was happening with their relative/friend in the hospital was extremely important especially in the discharge planning [41,43,44].…”

“…Being involved and being aware of what was happening with their relative/friend in the hospital was extremely important especially in the discharge planning [41,43,44]. However studies showed that carers were not included in discharge planning [41][42][43][44]: "The hospital sent him back to the nursing home on Friday instead of Tuesday the week after" [42 p.454]. Providing carers with opportunities to express preferences and expectations in healthcare and strengthen information sharing could ensure that the needs of everyone involved in care are met [41,46].…”