An Innovative Transitional Care Unit for Hospital to Home Transition of Children With Medical Complexity: A Qualitative Study of Parents' Experiences.
Heleen N Haspels, Nicole Skomorowski, Koen F M Joosten and 4 others
PMID 41786468WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with medical complexity described a homelike transitional unit as helping them regain control over care, confidence and emotional recovery.
Peer and family support mattered, but fragmented coordination, unclear roles and privacy limits remained.
Key findings
01Parents described moving from dependence on professionals to greater control and confidence through private apartments, collaborative decision-making and gradual caregiving training.
02Parents said emotional recovery needed rest, family time and access to psychosocial support, and that some felt overwhelmed or unable to access emotions after traumatic experiences.
03Care coordination was helped by multidisciplinary meetings and TCU staff support, but fragmented information exchange, missing transfer plans and practical barriers to home services were common.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
21 parents from 14 families were interviewed at a single transitional care unit, so the themes may not transfer to other services. Parents were asked after discharge, at a median of 3.4 months, so recall may vary. The study included only parents' views; children and siblings were not interviewed. Admission history was not a sampling criterion, so parents with repeated stays may have different experiences. Qualitative interviews report experiences and themes, not measured outcomes or effects.
Declared interests
Funded by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMW; 845008701). The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the transitional care unit improves hospital-to-home outcomes, reduces admissions or lowers caregiver stress. The Jeroen Pit Huis combined homelike apartments, 24/7 nursing, paediatric supervision, family counselling, psychosocial support, structured training and care coordination, and this study did not separate those components.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →