Health care transition in Germany – standardization of procedures and improvement actions

Abstract

Previous studies have assessed an increase in the number of people in need and emphasized the advantages of structured discharge management and health care transition. Therefore, our study evaluated the status quo of transition in a major German city after standardization of procedures and implementation of standard forms. Satisfaction with handling of standard forms and improvement of procedures was evaluated. Additionally, patients who had recently been hospitalized were asked about the hospital discharge process. The results show that the recent efforts of standardization helped to improve interface management for health care workers and patients and showed further improvement options.

Keywords:

• hospital discharge process
• standard forms
• long-term care
• aftercare

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participating hospitals, nursing institutions, physicians, and patients for their contribution to the study.

Disclosure

The Ministry for Labor, Health and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia [64-V42A-3062] funded this work. The ethical committee of the University of Duisburg-Essen approved the study. Dr Claudia Pieper conceived of the study and participated in its design, coordination, and data collection and drafted the manuscript. Izabela Kolankowska participated in the design of the study and data collection, performed the statistical analysis under the supervision of Dr Pieper, and provided administrative support. All authors have critically reviewed the content and have approved the final version submitted for publication. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.