title: Perspectives of carers on the move from a hospital to a transitional care unit.
abstract: The authors describe carers' experiences of the traditional process of moving a relative into residential care from an acute hospital admission and how a transitional care unit affected this experience. Telephone interviews (total 31) confirmed that looking for permanent care was a stressful, time-consuming, and confusing process for all carers. The transitional care unit did not make a great difference to the stress of finding a residential care vacancy, but the overall experience of transitional care was positive, with carers feeling that it gave them time to consider residential care options. Carers felt that a hospital was not the best environment to assess ongoing care needs. The implementation of transitional care did not reduce the stress felt by carers when looking for a residential care facility, but it was an acceptable alternative to waiting for residential care in hospital.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation and Aged Care, Centre for Clinical Change and Health Care Research, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daff
authors.forename: Jacqueline M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stepien
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wundke
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.forename: Craig H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crotty
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010360:Patient Transfer; D014481:United States