Navigating hospital to home transitions: A qualitative study exploring older adult and informal caregiver experiences, challenges and opportunities

The transition from the structured environment of the hospital to the more independent home setting presents various challenges and opportunities that significantly impact the post-discharge journey. This qualitative descriptive study, conducted within the European TRANS-SENIOR consortium, explores the experiences of older adults and informal caregivers in Israel during hospital-to-home care transitions while identifying challenges and opportunities for optimizing care transitions. One-to-one interviews were conducted with seven older adults and nine informal caregivers who experienced hospital-to-home transitions within the past 12 months. Thematic analysis showed negative and positive experiences; challenges included fragmented healthcare management and a lack of person-centered care; opportunities for improvement in the care transition system included promoting individual autonomy, involvement in decision-making, and enhancing collaboration between hospitals and communities. Our findings can support research and clinical efforts and encourage policymakers to explore new ways of improving hospital-to-home transition experiences, leading to better patient outcomes and experiences.