Introduction
While often overlooked, transitional nursing (TN) plays a crucial role in providing proper care. The phenomenon of TN involves the set of strategies and approaches used to make the process of transferring a patient from one setting to another as carefully and seamlessly as possible (Brumm, Theisen, & Falciglia, 2016). Because of the external risks to which patients are subjected when transitioning from one environment to another, new approaches toward TN need to be designed. Specifically, new strategies have to include the tools for patient education and building awareness among family members to ensure that all threats to patients’ health are successfully avoided.
Problem
The process of transitioning always implies significant stress for a patient and puts nurses under considerable strain due to the amount of information that has to be processed. The stage of transitioning that involves the transfer from inpatient to outpatient care is especially difficult for both patients and nurses since the supervision of the former becomes much more difficult. In addition, patients’ family members are likely to have a very poor understanding of the essentials of transitioning care (Loos, Walia, Becker, & Puschner, 2018). As a result, the threat of patient readmission increases exponentially (Brumm et al., 2016). Therefore, the current TN approaches have to include the stage of educating patients and their family members about the crucial components of care and health maintenance.
Significance
The issues associated with TN and especially the transfer from the hospital environment to the home setting are quite numerous and potentially dangerous for patients’ well-being. Therefore, by creating a knowledge management system that will ensure fast and effective patient education, one will be able to reduce the threat of readmissions to a significant degree. Therefore, the research is likely to have medium significance for TN. While the approaches toward patient education and building awareness among family members that will be designed in the course of the study may lack specificity, they will provide the framework for handling specific cases. As a result, the quality of care will increase gradually.
Purpose
The goal of the paper is to explore the problems associated with knowledge management occurring during the transfer of a patient from the hospital setting to the home environment. Particularly, the process of educating not only patients but also their family members will be studied to locate problematic aspects thereof and suggest improvements. The project will include the reconsideration of the current information management framework used by nurses when promoting the education of patients and their family members. In addition, the role which family support and involvement play in TN will be evaluated. As a result, patient outcomes will improve greatly, while the rates of readmission will drop.
Research Questions
The research will be focused primarily on the qualitative analysis of the study variables. Particularly, the changes in patients’ and their family members’ attitudes toward healthcare management and health education will be identified and analyzed. Key trends in the target audiences’ behavior and attitude toward the subject matter will be defined and assessed to locate the education strategy that will lead to a gradual improvement. Thus, the research question can be worded in the following way: “How can the change in the attitudes of patients and their family members toward health management with the help of patient education help improve the transition from the hospital environment to the home setting?”
Master’s Essentials
The goals of this study align with the Master’s Essentials that fall under the categories of Quality Improvement and Safety and Health Policy and Advocacy (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Particularly, the research helps translate the existing theories into practice, thus enhancing the quality of care through patient education. In addition, it advocates for patients’ needs, such as the need for communication and education. Thus, the study addresses some of the crucial Master’s essentials.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2011). The essentials of Master’s education in nursing. Web.
Brumm, S., Theisen, K., & Falciglia, M. (2016). Diabetes transition care from an inpatient to outpatient setting in a veteran population: Quality improvement pilot study. The Diabetes Educator, 42(3), 346-353. Web.
Loos, S., Walia, N., Becker, T., & Puschner, B. (2018). Lost in transition? Perceptions of health care among young people with mental health problems in Germany: A qualitative study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 12(1), 41-43. Web.