Hospital care transition as perceived by professionals in leadership positions

Abstract

Abstract Objective To analyze the challenges perceived by professionals in strategic leadership positions regarding care transition in hospital settings in light of clinical management. Methods This is a qualitative study conducted at a federal university hospital in the Brazilian Midwest with professionals in strategic leadership positions, from March to April 2024, using semi-structured interviews. Data processing was performed using the IRaMuTeQ software, with thematic content analysis. Results The study included 17 participants. The text corpus generated six classes, with two subdivisions, resulting in three thematic categories, namely: 1) Challenges in the Healthcare Network for care transition, which highlights the difficulties arising from insufficient documentation and records, and lack of communication, coordination, and integration of services for continuity of care; 2) Challenges in assessing care transition quality, which highlights the lack of monitoring and use of quantitative indicators to assess the effectiveness of care transition strategies; 3) Challenges in standardizing processes and educating people for care transition, in which respondents revealed the absence of standardized processes and training of professionals for the implementation of protocols. Conclusion The challenges perceived by professionals in strategic leadership positions include coordinating services within the Healthcare Network, communication among the multidisciplinary team regarding patient information, and the lack of standardization of clinical practices for care transition.