From home to hospital and hospital to nursing home

Principal Advisor: Dr Emily Gordon

Organisational unit: Centre for Health Services Research

For many frail older adults, an admission to hospital results in an admission to a nursing home. Anecdotally, the decision to ‘place’ a patient in a nursing home is typically preceded by a series of negative clinical events and followed by a negative change in clinical care.

There is some understanding of the medical, functional, and social factors that increase a frail patient’s risk of discharge to a nursing home, but less is known about these patients’ outcomes once a decision is made or once they are transferred to their new residence. Even less is known about how patients and their caregivers (family/friends and healthcare professionals) feel about this change.

If we are to improve the care of frail patients in hospital, we should endeavour to improve the way we support this enormous transition.

A PhD project examining this transition may include a longitudinal study with quantitative analysis of patient outcomes, focus groups or semi-structured interviews of consumers and healthcare professionals with qualitative analysis, and audit of service provision. The PhD candidate will develop mixed-method research skills and work closely with consumers and healthcare professionals. They may also have the opportunity to engage with industry partners. The PhD candidate will be supported by experts in frailty, clinical academics in geriatric medicine, and epidemiologists.