CONTINUITY OF INTEGRATED PATIENT CARE: A patient centred study of medication management

Abstract

This research is about enhancing the continuity of patient care. It focuses on medication management at the time of patient discharge from a cardiology unit in an Australian acute care hospital. That is, during the time of the patients’ transition from tertiary to primary care. The philosophical concept underpinning the research is centred on continuity of patient care which is defined, and then described, in the context of each chapter study undertaken. The main aim of the overall research was to conduct an original, empirical research project to identify, characterise, and investigate a cohort of patients in need of ongoing care after discharge. Those subjects recruited into the Continuity of Care Project were 281 acute on chronic, cardiovascular patients. In this research, the individual chapter studies investigated the need for continuity of care by analysing the quality of prescribing recorded at hospital discharge and at medication review in the community.