Elderly Medical Patients' Experience of an Acute Readmission to the Emergency Department-An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Sara Levi Hemmingsen, Pernille Würtz Bøhm, Janet Froulund Jensen and 2 others
PMID 41299214WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults readmitted to an emergency department felt trapped by fragmented care.
They needed a clear explanation, someone who believed them, and support from family or one trusted clinician. Missing these made them doubt symptoms and lose trust.
Key findings
01Patients described feeling powerless and dependent on a healthcare system that seemed to accept or reject their symptoms.
02When ED visits did not explain their symptoms, patients began to doubt themselves and lost trust in professionals.
03Family or informal networks were central to balancing illness and navigating care, but fear of burdening relatives made some patients avoid asking for help.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only ten patients were interviewed, although 14 were approached, so the sample may represent those willing and able to be interviewed after a recent admission. Patients living in nursing homes, with cognitive impairment, terminal illness, or active cancer treatment were excluded, so it does not describe those older adults. All women lived alone and all men lived with a spouse, and women were on average 8.5 years older, so gender and living situation were mixed together. The patients came from an urban hospital in Copenhagen, so the themes may not fit rural settings or other health systems. The study reports experiences, not outcomes, so it cannot show whether any change in care would reduce readmission.
Declared interests
The authors report nothing to disclose for funding and declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that clearer discharge information would have prevented readmission. This study describes experiences after readmission and did not test an intervention or measure readmission outcomes.