title: A rural perspective on home care communication about elderly patients after hospital discharge.
abstract: Little is known about home health agencies (HHA) and their integration in the continuum of care in rural areas. The aims of this study are to describe the amount and type of patient-related data transferred by discharging hospitals to rural HHAs and to explore the influence of selected organizational factors on that communication process using a previously tested model of interorganizational communication. In this study, 446 closed-case, elderly patient records at three rural HHAs were reviewed using the Referral Data Inventory. Rural HHAs receive about half of the literature-recommended referral data, characterized primarily by background data, some medical data, and almost no psychosocial or nursing-care data. Referrals transmitted by telephone and written data were superior to referrals transferred by a telephone call only. Hospital-affiliated HHAs received significantly greater amounts and richer types of referral data than did free-standing HHAs. Findings suggest that cost-saving measures in the referral process need investigation.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Helms
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003142:Communication; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data