FCA releases two new reports on important role of family caregivers in reducing negative outcomes for patients

Increased training, support, and recognition are needed by families as healthcare increasingly moves into home settings

SAN FRANCISCO-December 17, 2012-The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance has released two new reports that shine a light on the important roles of family caregivers in U.S. healthcare and how those caregivers are often unrecognized and unsupported within medical and long-term service systems.

Family Caregiving and Transitional Care: A Critical Review is an examination of the often ignored--yet absolutely essential--role of caregiving families as patients transition from one healthcare setting to another, for example discharge from hospital to home or hospital to rehab facility.

The report notes that although family caregivers are usually the individuals who will actually implement care plans following release from the hospital, they are rarely actively included in discharge planning; worse, their training, even for simple medical procedures, is often insufficient. The all-too-common result: preventable negative outcomes for patients.

The report looks at ways family caregivers characterize their experiences when a transition occurs, and they are expected to take on challenging care tasks such as direct medical treatments (e.g., monitoring ventilators or home dialysis), managing medications, and coordinating essential medical services. Transition decisions made hurriedly at the point of discharge can change patient outcomes and can be implicated in costly hospital readmissions, serious medication errors, and omissions in follow-up treatment.

The authors state, "As the US continues its pressing search for ways to contain healthcare costs and improve quality, the one group whose role has been largely ignored is the nation's 41 million family caregivers.... Family caregivers are a critical missing link in improving transitional care for frail older adults with disabilities."

The report also examines the relatively few model transitional care programs that do support family caregivers and concludes with recommendations on improvements needed for practice, research, and public policy.

Authors: Mary Jo Gibson, MA, whose career spans 30 years of work on family caregiving, health and long-term services and supports (LTSS) policy; Kathleen Kelly, MPA, Executive Director of Family Caregiver Alliance, the National Center on Caregiving and the Bay Area Caregiver Resource Center; and Alan K. Kaplan, MSc, JD, who has more than 30 years of experience on patients' rights, medical peer review and Medicare quality assurance issues.

The report is available at: http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/FamCGing_TransCare_CritRvw_FINAL10.31.2012.pdf