A meta-synthesis of factors influencing nursing home staff decisions to transfer residents to hospital.

Aim: To report a meta-synthesis of qualitative research studies exploring the role of nursing home staff in decisions to transfer residents to hospital.

Background: Nurses and nurse assistants provide the majority of care to residents living in nursing homes and may be the only health workers present when a resident deteriorates. To inform future strategies, it is vital to understand the role of nursing home staff in decisions to transfer to hospital.

Design And Review Methods: A systematic review identified 17 studies to be included. The process of meta-synthesis was undertaken using the Joanna Briggs Institute's guidelines.

Data Sources: Qualitative research papers published between January 1989-October 2012 were identified in key databases including Cinahl, Embase, Medline and PsycInfo.

Results: Nursing home staff members play a key role in decision-making at the time of a resident's deterioration. Multiple factors influence decisions to transfer to hospital including an unclear expectation of the nursing home role; limited staffing capacity; fear of working outside their scope of practice; poor access to multidisciplinary support and difficulties communicating with other decision-makers.

Conclusions: There is a lack of consensus regarding the role of the nursing home when a resident's health deteriorates. Nursing home staff would benefit from a clear prescription of their expected minimum clinical skill set; a staffing capacity that allows for the increased requirements to manage residents on-site, greater consistency in access to outside resources and further confidence and skills to optimize their role in resident advocacy.