Collaborative partnership between family caregivers and nurses in the care of older hospitalized persons

Family caregiving by partners and children of older home-dwelling persons is currently intensifying in the context of an aging population and recent health care reforms. After a hospital admission, there is an increasing emphasis on the self-care ability of these older persons and their family members, because professional care at home after discharge is usually temporary and additional in nature. From this perspective, it seems important that nurses and family members, in their role of informal caregivers, collaborate to provide optimal patient care. The aim of this thesis was to gain insight into collaborative partnerships between family caregivers and nurses in the care of older hospitalized persons in order to formulate areas of improvement and appropriate interventions. The results show that, although nurses have a positive attitude towards family members, and are willing to spend time with them they do not seem to recognize family caregivers as collaborating partners in the care of older persons. This thesis has also shown that family caregivers who experienced a higher level of collaboration with nurses also showed a higher degree of preparation for caregiving at home after discharge of the patient from the hospital. In order to prepare family caregivers for more complex and demanding caregiving at home, it is important for nurses to collaborate with family caregivers by involving them in coordinating of care during the hospital admission and consistently hand over the care to them when the patient is discharged home. This allows nurses to contribute to better quality and continuity of care.