Effectiveness of transitional care interventions for chronic illnesses: A systematic review of reviews. 2021

Jee Young Joo, and Megan F Liu
Gachon University, College of Nursing, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: drjoo@gachon.ac.kr.

This systematic review of reviews aims to critically evaluate and synthesize findings from recent systematic reviews to analyze the effectiveness of transitional care interventions in the management of adult patients with chronic illnesses. Transitional care interventions have been provided to patients with chronic illnesses for reducing fragmented care and hospital readmissions after discharge. However, the effectiveness of the interventions on outcomes other than hospital readmissions is still unclear. This study used the systematic review of systematic reviews methodology. From five electronic databases, systematic reviews published between January 2011 and December 2020 and those that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were searched and screened to retrieve recent evidence. Eight systematic reviews that met the inclusion criteria and had high methodological quality were included. All included transitional care interventions aimed to reduce fragmented care and hospital admissions and improve health care outcomes in chronically ill patients. On summarizing and synthesizing the data, four common outcomes-hospital readmissions, quality of life, mortality, and health care cost savings-were retrieved. There was evidence regarding the effectiveness of transitional care on health care cost savings; however, other outcomes showed mixed results. Transitional care interventions are effective for patients with chronic illnesses. It is important to have standardized outcome measures; therefore, it is recommended to fund research and reimbursement of transitional care practices. The findings and implications of this review are important to nurse managers, health care practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D011788 Quality of Life A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral, social environment as well as health and disease. HRQOL,Health-Related Quality Of Life,Life Quality,Health Related Quality Of Life
D002908 Chronic Disease Diseases which have one or more of the following characteristics: they are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation, or may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation, or care (Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed). For epidemiological studies chronic disease often includes HEART DISEASES; STROKE; CANCER; and diabetes (DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 2). Chronic Condition,Chronic Illness,Chronically Ill,Chronic Conditions,Chronic Diseases,Chronic Illnesses,Condition, Chronic,Disease, Chronic,Illness, Chronic
D006760 Hospitalization The confinement of a patient in a hospital. Hospitalizations
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000069341 Transitional Care Health care provided during a transition to a different mode of care (e.g., TRANSITION TO ADULT CARE). Home Transition,Transition Care,Care, Transitional,Cares, Transitional,Home Transitions,Transition Cares,Transition, Home,Transitional Cares,Transitions, Home
D000078202 Systematic Reviews as Topic Works about a review of primary literature in health and health policy that attempt to identify, appraise, and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question. It's conducted using explicit methods aimed at minimizing bias in order to produce more reliable findings regarding the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation that can be used to inform decision making. Systematic Review as Topic,Umbrella Reviews as Topic,Reviews Systematic as Topic
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults

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