Authors
Élodie Montaigne, Anne-Marie Ollitrault, Nsuni Met, Aline Corvol
Published in
The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres. Pages 8445621261498966. Oct 21, 2026. Epub Oct 21, 2026.
Abstract
AimTo explore how hospital nurses (HNs) and community nurses (CNs) in France manage chronic wound care for older adults across settings, and how their practices shape continuity of care during hospital-to-home transitions.DesignQualitative descriptive study combining ethnographic shadowing and a focus group.MethodsFieldwork took place in a French university hospital, across four units: acute geriatrics, rehabilitation, vascular surgery, dermatology. The focus group involved CNs from seven different self-employed nursing practices. We shadowed 15 HNs for approximately 92 h and conducted one focus group with 7 CNs. Data were analyzed inductively using constant comparison, with a second-stage interpretive analysis informed by Meleis' transitions theory.ResultsFour interconnected processes shaped continuity of chronic wound care across the transition: (1) nursing expertise in wound management was expressed differently across hospital and community settings; (2) discharge coordination was fragmented, with rare nurse-to-nurse communication and insufficient transfer of wound-specific information; (3) organizational logics diverged, with discontinuous hospital workflows and time-pressured, fee-for-service-constrained community visits; and (4) patient involvement during hospitalization was limited, constraining engagement and preparedness post-discharge. Continuity was frequently maintained through compensatory work from nurses.ConclusionContinuity of chronic wound care depends less on nursing expertise than on the organizational conditions enabling that expertise to be mobilized across settings.ImpactThis study highlights the need for more integrated transitional care, including clearer and more consistent responsibilities at discharge, structured nurse-to-nurse discharge communication, and earlier patient involvement in wound care management.
PMID:
42905017
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 23 Oct 2026.
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