Transitions from Hospital Care to Long-Term Primary Health Care: Patient Flow, User Perspectives and Inter-Agency Barriers, 2014

After a period with extensive organizational change within both primary and specialty health care there is a growing concern about the relationship between the two, especially regarding inter-agency cooperation. Earlier studies have shown that geriatric and psychiatric patients are a main challenge to coordination processes between the two main levels of health care in Norway.

The central research questions are:
PATIENT FLOW. What is the incidence of transitions from all kinds of acute hospitals to long-term primary health care in the municipalities? How can variations between municipalities in these indicators be explained?
USER PERSPECTIVES: How do patients 80+ and their caregivers experi ence and evaluate the transition process between the two levels of care? Can characteristics of hospitals or municipalities explain variations in these typees of user perspectives?
INTER-AGENCY BARRIERS: Focusing on patients 80+ discharged from hospitals to long-term care: what factors form major obstacles to user participation, communication between the two service levels, and to transfer in due time from hospital to long-term primary health care?