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Motivation to take part in integrated care: an assessment of follow-up home visits to elderly persons
- Authors:
- HJELMA Ulf, HENDRIKSEN Carsten, HANSEN Kirsten
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Integrated Care, 11(3), 2011, Online only
- Publisher:
- International Foundation for Integrated Care
Follow-up home visits by general practitioner and district nurse (within a week after discharge from hospital) can reduce hospital readmissions and improve the overall wellbeing of older people following hospital discharge. However, they can be difficult to implement because of a number of organizational obstacles, including co-ordination between the organizations involved in the process. Using inter-organisational network theory, this study examines the motivation and rationale of local care providers to invest time and effort in cross-sectoral follow-up home visits in Copenhagen, Denmark. Two focus groups and seven in-depth interviews were carried out with hospital staff, general practitioners, and district nurses. Care providers were motivated to collaborate by a number of factors. The focus of collaboration needs to be clearly defined and agreed upon, there needs to be a high degree of equality between the professionals involved, and there has to be a will to co-operate based on a shared understanding of values and learning potentials. The study concludes that motivational factors need to be addressed in future collaborative programmes in order to fully exploit the potential health benefits.