Parents of Pediatric Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: Transition to Home and Chronic Illness Care

• Determine if discharge preparation has an effect on parent readiness for hospital discharge and if readiness for hospital discharge effects post-discharge outcomes following hospital discharge in parents of solid organ transplant recipients [ Time Frame: 2 years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

  Determine if discharge preparation (discharge teaching and care coordination) for parents of solid organ transplant children has an effect on:

  (1) short term discharge transition outcomes and transition to home-based care (measured at 3 weeks post-discharge) and,(2) longer term chronic care outcomes at 3 and 6 months post-discharge.

  
  

• Post transplant outcomes [ Time Frame: 2 years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Determine outcomes (parent coping, adherence, family management, and utilization of healthcare services) and the relationship between these outcomes, throughout the transition to chronic care management for families of solid organ transplant recipients at 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months post-discharge.
  
  

Parents of children that have received a heart, kidney, liver or lung transplant will be invited to participate in this protocol.

Involvement in this study entails completion of questionnaires at 4 separate time points. Parents will first complete questionnaires regarding discharge teaching, care coordination and readiness for hospital discharge on the day of discharge from the hospital. Parents will subsequently complete questionnaires at 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after discharge. The post discharge questionnaires assess coping, family management, adherence and utilization of healthcare resources.

Currently, no research has been conducted related to readiness for hospital discharge of a parent as the primary caregiver for a child with solid organ transplant or the sequential relationships between hospitalization care and the trajectory of post-discharge outcomes. This research will fill the gap in knowledge needed for care of solid organ transplant children and parents.

The ability to identify factors in the first year after transplant that are predictive of decreased coping and non-adherence affords an opportunity to develop nursing and health interventions that have significant implications for care decisions, as well as disease activity and health care costs.