IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v347y2024ics0277953624002132.html

Why is hospital discharge so difficult? Reconsidering patient trajectories in theory and practice: Insights from an ethnographic study of transitions in hip fracture care

Author

Listed:
  • Allen, Davina

Abstract

This paper combines translational mobilisation theory and assemblage thinking to elaborate the patient trajectory concept. Deploying ethnographic research on transitions in hip fracture care in Wales (2014–2016), it describes and explains the structures and logics that condition transition interfaces, how transition infrastructures enact patients and with what effects. Comparative analysis of transition in three distinctive assemblages offers new insights into the challenges of hospital discharge and opportunities for research and improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen, Davina, 2024. "Why is hospital discharge so difficult? Reconsidering patient trajectories in theory and practice: Insights from an ethnographic study of transitions in hip fracture care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:347:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624002132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116769
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624002132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116769?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davina Allen & Carl May, 2017. "Organizing Practice and Practicing Organization: An Outline of Translational Mobilization Theory," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, June.
    2. Timmermans, Stefan & Almeling, Rene, 2009. "Objectification, standardization, and commodification in health care: A conceptual readjustment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 21-27, July.
    3. Hilligoss, Brian, 2014. "Selling patients and other metaphors: A discourse analysis of the interpretive frames that shape emergency department admission handoffs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 119-128.
    4. Bishop, Simon & Waring, Justin, 2019. "From boundary object to boundary subject; the role of the patient in coordination across complex systems of care during hospital discharge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Skovgaard, Anna Louise & Jørgensen, Marianne Johansson & Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Tine & Høybye, Mette Terp, 2022. "Discharge readiness as an infrastructure: Negotiating the transfer of care for elderly patients in medical wards," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Skovgaard, Anna Louise & Jørgensen, Marianne Johansson & Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Tine & Høybye, Mette Terp, 2022. "Discharge readiness as an infrastructure: Negotiating the transfer of care for elderly patients in medical wards," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    2. Martimianakis, Maria Athina (Tina) & Hafferty, Frederic W., 2013. "The world as the new local clinic: A critical analysis of three discourses of global medical competency," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 31-38.
    3. Bennett, Stephanie G. & Vaughn, Lisa M. & Smith, Carolyn R. & Pritchard, Tracy J. & Gormley, Denise K. & Bankston, Karen, 2025. "Group concept mapping with patients, parents, clinicians, and researchers to understand the perception of engagement and value in a learning network: A mixed methods study," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Borozdina, Ekaterina, 2024. "Instant messengers and health professionals’ agency in Russian clinical settings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    5. Brüggemann, Jelmer & Persson, Alma & Wijma, Barbro, 2019. "Understanding and preventing situations of abuse in health care – Navigation work in a Swedish palliative care setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 52-58.
    6. De Brabandere, L. & Schuurmans, J. & van der Woerd, O. & Bal, R. & Wallenburg, I., 2025. "Targeting ‘average Jane’: The co-modification of for-profit nursing home care in the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 387(C).
    7. Balfe, Myles, 2016. "Standardizing psycho-medical torture during the War on Terror: Why it happened, how it happened, and why it didn't work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Peplow, Sally & Donnellan, Warren & Christiansen, Paul, 2025. "A retrospective exploration of care experiences shaping the mental health trajectories of children and young people in Care: Part 1 – The system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    9. Fleming, Mark D. & Safaeinili, Nadia & Knox, Margae & Hernandez, Elizabeth & Brewster, Amanda L., 2023. "Between health care and social services: Boundary objects and cross-sector collaboration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    10. Shie, An-Jin & Xu, En-Min & Wang, Yunyu & Yang, Ming & Wu, Yenchun Jim, 2025. "Emotional needs and service process optimization in combined medical and elder care: A TRIZ approach," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Ihlebæk, Hanna Marie, 2021. "Time to care - An ethnographic study of how temporal structuring affects caring relationships in clinical nursing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    12. Ezell, Jerel M. & Walters, Suzan & Friedman, Samuel R. & Bolinski, Rebecca & Jenkins, Wiley D. & Schneider, John & Link, Bruce & Pho, Mai T., 2021. "Stigmatize the use, not the user? Attitudes on opioid use, drug injection, treatment, and overdose prevention in rural communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    13. Per Magnus Mæhle & Ingrid Kristine Small Hanto & Sigbjørn Smeland, 2020. "Practicing Integrated Care Pathways in Norwegian Hospitals: Coordination through Industrialized Standardization, Value Chains, and Quality Management or an Organizational Equivalent to Improvised Jazz Standards," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-32, December.
    14. Kreuzer, Maria & Cado, Vesna & Raïes, Karine, 2020. "Moments of care: How interpersonal interactions contribute to luxury experiences of healthcare consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 482-490.
    15. Simpson, Bob & Khatri, Rekha & Ravindran, Deapica & Udalagama, Tharindi, 2015. "Pharmaceuticalisation and ethical review in South Asia: Issues of scope and authority for practitioners and policy makers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 247-254.
    16. Vale, Mira D. & Perkins, Denise White, 2022. "Discuss and remember: Clinician strategies for integrating social determinants of health in patient records and care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    17. Schmidt-Sane, Megan & Adegoke, Olufunke & Abbas, Syed & Lawanson, Akanni O. & Kunnuji, Michael & Jegede, Ayodele & MacGregor, Hayley, 2024. "Infrastructures of epidemic response: Mpox and everyday repair work in southwestern Nigeria," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    18. Yeung, Karen & Dixon-Woods, Mary, 2010. "Design-based regulation and patient safety: A regulatory studies perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 502-509, August.
    19. Olive, Mattia Vincenzo & Gastaldi, Luca & Radaelli, Giovanni, 2026. "Making the invisible visible: nurses’ stealth work to legitimize their telemedicine coordination role," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    20. Chang, Yu-Che & Nkambule, Nothando S. & Xiao, Xaviera & Ngerng, Roy Y.L. & Monrouxe, Lynn V., 2021. "Safety net, gateway, market, sport, and war: Exploring how emergency physicians conceptualize and ascribe meaning to emergency care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:347:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624002132. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.