‘Well, what are you going to do when you’re out there?’: a scoping review of successful hospital discharge for people with acquired disability and complex needs aged 18–65 years

Lee Cubis; Eve Roseingrave; Emily Z. Gosden-Kaye; Di Winkler; Jacinta Douglas

doi:10.1071/IB23088

REVIEW (Open Access)

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‘Well, what are you going to do when you’re out there?’: a scoping review of successful hospital discharge for people with acquired disability and complex needs aged 18–65 years

Lee Cubis

^A ^B ^* , Eve Roseingrave

^A ^B , Emily Z. Gosden-Kaye ^A , Di Winkler

^A ^B and Jacinta Douglas

^A ^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Summer Foundation Ltd., PO Box 208, Blackburn, Melbourne, Vic. 3130, Australia.

^B Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: lee.cubis@summerfoundation.org.au

Handling Editor: Petrea Cornwell

Brain Impairment 25, IB23088 https://doi.org/10.1071/IB23088

Submitted: 9 June 2023 Accepted: 17 July 2023 Published: 17 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Young adults with acquired disability and complex support needs often experience significant delays to hospital discharge, resulting in high costs for hospital systems and poor outcomes for people with acquired disability. A scoping review was completed to explore the components of successful hospital discharge for people with acquired disability and complex support needs aged 18–65 years.

Methods

A systematic search of five databases was completed to identify studies that reported on hospital discharge outcomes for young people with acquired disability and complex support needs.

Results

Many experiences of hospital discharge were characterised by delays, unmet needs and poor implementation of supports that align with an individual’s needs and preferences. Components of a successful discharge included coordination and continuity of care from admission through to discharge and transition back to the community; the involvement of people with acquired disability and close others in discharge planning; and sufficient preparation for discharge, such as arranging timely and appropriate housing and community supports. Each of these individual components of discharge was influenced by the quality of communication between stakeholders throughout the discharge trajectory.

Conclusion

Improving coordination of care, early initiation of applications for funding and supports and involvement of people with acquired disability and close others may enhance positive outcomes of hospital discharges for people with complex needs.

Keywords: acquired brain injury, complex needs, disability, disability support, hospital discharge, housing, spinal cord injury, stroke.

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