title: Going home from hospital: the postdischarge experience of patients and carers in rural and remote Queensland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper reports on a study of the experiences of patients and carers discharged from the Townsville General Hospital into rural and remote communities in North Queensland.
  
  
  METHODS
  The findings presented in this paper are drawn from post-discharge in-depth, qualitative interviews of both patients and carers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings indicate the importance of examining the lived experience of both patients and carers in attempting to understand the impact of current discharge practices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that carers are providing the bulk of post-discharge care of patients - a difficult role in which the difficulties are exacerbated when the patient or the carer or both is a long way from the home community.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Rosamund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.forename: Nonie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rorison
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011793:Queensland; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012424:Rural Population