Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38154900›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2023

Rural caregivers' preparedness for detecting and responding to the signs of worsening health conditions in recently hospitalised patients at risk for readmission: a qualitative descriptive study.

Mary T Fox, Jeffrey I Butler

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Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Mary T FoxSchool of Nursing, Centre for Aging Research and Education, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada maryfox@yorku.ca.ORCID 0000-0003-0572-3892
Jeffrey I ButlerSchool of Nursing, Centre for Aging Research and Education, York Univ, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study aimed to explore informal rural caregivers' perceived preparedness to detect and respond to the signs of worsening health conditions in patients recently discharged from hospital and at risk for readmission.

designA qualitative descriptive design and semistructured interviews were used. Data were thematically analysed.

settingData collection occurred in 2018 and 2019 in rural communities in Southwestern and Northeastern Ontario, Canada.

participantsThe study included sixteen informal caregivers who were all family members of a relative discharged from hospital at high risk for readmission following hospitalisation mostly for a medical illness (63%). Participants were mostly women (87.5%), living with their relative (62.5%) who was most often a parent (56.3%).

resultsThree themes were identified: (1) warning signs and rural communities, (2) perceived preparedness, and (3) improving preparedness. The first theme elucidates informal caregivers' view that they needed to be prepared because they were taking over care previously provided by hospital healthcare professionals yet lacked accessible medical help in rural communities. The second theme captures informal caregivers' perceptions that they lacked knowledge of how to detect warning signs and how to respond to them appropriately. The last theme illuminates informal caregivers' suggestions for improving preparation related to warning signs.

conclusionsInformal caregivers in rural communities were largely unprepared for detecting and responding to the signs of worsening health conditions for patients at high risk for hospital readmission. Healthcare professionals can anticipate that informal caregivers, particularly those whose relatives live far from medical help, need information on how to detect and respond to warning signs, and may prioritise their time to this aspect of postdischarge care for these caregivers.

Indexed as

CaregiversRural PopulationAftercareFemaleHumansMaleOntarioPatient DischargePatient ReadmissionQualitative ResearchHealth EducationHealth EquityQUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Identifiers

PMID38154900
PMCPMC10759104

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.