title: [Transferring palliative-care patients from hospital to community care: A qualitative study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To know the experience of case-manager nurses with regard to transferring palliative-care patients from the hospital to their homes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative phenomenological study carried out in 2014-2015.
  
  
  METHODS
  Poniente and Almería health districts, which referral hospitals are Poniente Hospital and Torrecárdenas Hospital, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  A purposive sample comprised of 12 case-manager nurses was recruited from the aforementioned setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Theoretical data saturation was achieved after performing 7 in-depth individual interviews and 1 focus group. Data analysis was performed following Colaizzi's method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three themes emerged: (1) 'Case-management nursing as a quality, patient-centred service' (2) 'Failures of the information systems', with the subthemes "patients" insufficient and inadequate previous information" and "ineffective between-levels communication channels for advanced nursing"; (3) 'Deficiencies in discharge planning', with the subthemes "deficient management of resources on admission", "uncertainty about discharge" and "insufficient human resources to coordinate the transfer".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Case-manager nurses consider themselves a good-quality service. However, they think there are issues with coordination, information and discharge planning of palliative patients from hospital. It would be useful to review the communication pathways of both care and discharge reports, so that resources needed by palliative patients are effectively managed at the point of being transferred home.
authors.affiliation: Agencia Pública Empresarial Sanitaria Hospital de Poniente, El Ejido, Almería, España.
authors.forename: Matías
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Correa-Casado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Medicina, Universidad de Almería, Investigador asociado, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco, Chile.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Granero-Molina
authors.affiliation: Middlesex University, Londres, Reino Unido.
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hernández-Padilla
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Medicina, Universidad de Almería, Investigador asociado, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco, Chile. Electronic address: cfernan@ual.es.
authors.forename: Cayetano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández-Sola
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D010360:Patient Transfer; D011320:Primary Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: Continuidad de cuidados; Continuum of care; Cuidados paliativos; Investigación cualitativa; Palliative care; Patient transfer; Qualitative research; Transferencia de pacientes