"I Had Bills to Pay": a Mixed-Methods Study on the Role of Income on Care Transitions in a Public-Payer Healthcare System.

Background: Income disparities may affect patients' care transition home. Evidence among patients who have access to publicly funded healthcare coverage remains limited.

Objective: To evaluate the association between low income and post-discharge health outcomes and explore patient and caregiver perspectives on the role of income disparities.

Raising the bar for patient experience during care transitions in Canada: A repeated cross-sectional survey evaluating a patient-oriented discharge summary at Ontario hospitals.

Background: Patient experience when transitioning home from hospital is an important quality metric linked to improved patient outcomes. We evaluated the impact of a hospital-based care transition intervention, patient-oriented discharge summary (PODS), on patient experience across Ontario acute care hospitals.

Methods: We used a repeated cross-sectional study design to compare yearly positive (top-box) responses to four questions centered on discharge communication from the Canadian Patient Experience Survey (2016-2020) among three hospital cohorts with various levels of PODS implementation.

Patients' and caregivers' perspectives on factors that influence understanding of and adherence to hospital discharge instructions: a qualitative study.

Background: Many patients have difficulty understanding and adhering to discharge instructions once home from hospital. We assessed patient and family caregiver perspectives on factors that influence understanding of and adherence to discharge instructions.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semistructured interviews of participants aged 18 years or more enrolled in a multicentre mixed-methods study who were discharged from 3 acute care hospitals across Ontario with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or pneumonia.

"We are doing it together"; The integral role of caregivers in a patients' transition home from the medicine unit.

Background: An admission to hospital for acute illness can be difficult for patients and lead to high levels of anxiety. Patients are given a lot of information throughout their hospital stay and instructions at discharge to follow when they get home. For complex medical patients, the ability to retain, understand, and adhere to these instructions is a critical marker of a successful transition.