Going home from hospital: the postdischarge experience of patients and carers in rural and remote Queensland.
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.
Williams
Chris
C
School of Social Work, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Thorpe
Rosamund
R
Harris
Nonie
N
Dickinson
Hilary
H
Barrett
Chris
C
Rorison
Francine
F
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