Effectiveness Of Strategies To Promote Safe Transition Of Elderly People Across Care Settings

Review Question: This SR will be undertaken to answer the following question: What strategies have been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of errors and adverse events among the elderly during care transition across various acute care and community health care settings? Criteria for considering studies for review: Types of participants: The review will include studies undertaken in participants aged >65 years who have been transferred from: • Ward to Ward • Hospital to Hospital • Hospital to Residential Care Facilities • Hospital to Home Studies that described errors and adverse events that are not associated with the transfer of elderly patients will be excluded. In addition, studies undertaken on elderly patients with psychiatric illness will be excluded as psychiatric illness could be an independent factor to the contribution of errors and adverse events during care transition31. Types of Interventions: Any interventions that have been undertaken to reduce or minimise errors and adverse events and promote safe transition of the patients from one setting to another will be included, for example discharge planner, pharmacy counselling and nurse led medication reconciliation. Types of Outcomes: Studies will be included if they have assessed the effects of an intervention on the following outcomes: (1) Medication management (2) Readmissions to hospitals (3) Falls (4) Disorientation (5) Medical mismanagement (6) Missed diagnosis (7) Functional level (8) Quality of life (9) Patient satisfaction (10) Mortality (11) Morbidity (12) Cost effectiveness (13) Any other errors and adverse events reported in the literature