Key result
Older adults and their caregivers identified needs for greater involvement in discharge planning, active participation in decision-making, support for informal caregivers, and better interprofessional communication.
Why the study?
Safe medication management for older adults after hospital discharge requires an interprofessional, patient-centered approach, but the perceived needs for collaborative management at home were unclear.
Improving collaborative medication management after hospital discharge requires empowering older adults and their informal caregivers, and assigning overarching responsibility to a community healthcare professional.
Identified needs highlight post-discharge coordination gaps; hypothesis-generating for collaborative interventions before practice change.
BACKGROUND: Safe medication management for older adults after hospital discharge requires a well-coordinated, interprofessional, patient-centered approach. This study aimed to describe the perceived needs for collaborative medication management for older adults taking several different medications at home after hospital discharge. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with older adults (n = 28), informal (n = 17), and professional caregivers (n = 13). RESULTS: Findings revealed four main needs: older adults and informal caregivers' perceived needs for greater involvement in discharge planning; older adults' perceived needs to be informed, listened to, and to be actively involved in decision-making; informal caregivers' perceived needs for help in supporting and coordinating medication management; and older adults' and informal and professional caregivers' perceived needs for better communication and coordination between professional caregivers. CONCLUSION: This study revealed two underutilized pathways towards improving collaborative medication management: medication follow-up involving a community healthcare professional taking an overarching responsibility and empowering older adults and their informal caregivers in medication management after hospital discharge.
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Pereira et al. (2022) studied Polypharmacy after hospital discharge (n=58). Collaborative medication management was evaluated on Perceived needs for collaborative medication management. Older adults and their caregivers identified needs for greater involvement in discharge planning, active participation in decision-making, support for informal caregivers, and better interprofessional communication.
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