Transferring Older Adults from Hospitals to Nursing Homes

Ken Covinsky, MD, a geriatrician at the University of San Francisco (UCSF), recently published a blog on GeriPal  addressing an issue that affects many older adults—problems with transfers from the hospital to the nursing home.  Dr. Covinsky worked with Healthinaging.org to include some specific recommendations for caregivers, who can play an active role in helping to ensure safer transfers between sites of care for their older family members and friends.

Recent Study Shows Poor Communication Between Hospitals and Nursing Homes
Huge numbers of older people are transferred from hospitals to nursing homes.  Often, an older hospitalized patient needs skilled nursing care before they are ready to return home.  In other cases, a nursing home resident who needed hospitalization is returning to the nursing home.  Older patients and their families certainly hope that great communication between the hospital and nursing home will ensure a seamless transition in care.

But a recent study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (click here for a copy of the article) suggests that the quality of communication between the hospital and the nursing home can be very problematic.  The study was led by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, including nurse researcher, Dr. Barbara King, and geriatrician, Dr. Amy Kind.

The authors conducted interviews and focus groups with 27 front-line nurses in skilled nursing facilities.  These nurses noted that very difficult transitions from the hospital to nursing home were common.  Sadly, when asked to give the details of a good transition, none of the nurses were able to think of an example.

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