Going home from hospital: the postdischarge experience of patients and carers in rural and remote Queensland

Abstract

Objective: This paper reports on a study of the experiences of patients and carers discharged from the Townsville General Hospital into rural and remote communities in North Queensland.

Design: The findings presented in this paper are drawn from post-discharge in-depth, qualitative interviews of both patients and carers.

Results: The findings indicate the importance of examining the lived experience of both patients and carers in attempting to understand the impact of current discharge practices.

Conclusion: We conclude that carers are providing the bulk of post-discharge care of patients – a difficult role in which the difficulties are exacerbated when the patient or the carer or both is a long way from the home community.