Project description
Ensuring successful senior care transitions
The movement of patients between doctors or from one healthcare setting to another or home is called transitional care. For elderly patients, in particular, any movement may be difficult to support or dangerous. In this context, the EU-funded TRANS-SENIOR project aims to train a multidisciplinary, multisectoral team of early-stage researchers who will bring innovation into the care of senior citizens. They will study and elaborate on ways of avoiding unnecessary care transitions. They will also develop innovative, sustainable care models, including guidance, patterns and tools, ready to be applied in cases where patient transitions are necessary. TRANS-SENIOR will result in expertise and transferable skills, which will improve care settings and support seniors and caregivers.
Objective
The TRANS-SENIOR EJD-network builds capacity for tackling a major challenge facing European long-term care systems: the need to improve care for an increasing number of care-dependent senior citizens. Its specific focus is on avoiding care transitions (hospitalisations, nursing home admissions etc.) that are not necessary and on optimising care transitions that are really needed. This is important as research and practice show that unnecessary or poorly managed care transitions in senior citizens lead to negative health and well-being consequences and high costs for society.
RESEARCH objectives of TRANS-SENIOR are generate evidence on 1) when and where avoiding care transitions is possible, 2) the benefits of innovative transitional care models, and 3) methods for involving senior citizens and informal caregivers, and sustainable implementation of new care models. TRANS-SENIOR PRODUCTS are: tools to support senior citizens and informal care givers in decision making and preparing for transitions; guidance for professionals' triage, citizen empowerment and decision making; protocols for the effective delivery of transitional care models; a toolbox for the implementation of these care models; an assessment tool for evaluating the financing of long-term care; policy briefs to inform future long-term care policy and processes; and a training syllabus to inform future doctoral training in Europe.
TRANS-SENIOR will train HEALTH CARE INNOVATORS. Our multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral team will give the ESRs the knowledge, research expertise and transferable skills needed to lead improvements in real-world care settings. TRANS-SENIOR's health care innovators will be able to operate on the cutting edges of practice, science, policy and innovation.
Programme(s)
Coordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium