| 69 3 receive post-diagnostic support, yet our quantitative findings identified that those healthcare providers who are involved in the diagnostic trajectory are often poorer informed about these referral processes. Healthcare providers in our study identified a lack of ‘baseline’ information in referrals they receive, in line with other studies (39). Some studies have tried to improve the referral process with moderate success (40). To further improve referral processes, researchers should work with clinicians to identify ways to streamline and increase the accuracy of referrals to facilitate a better referral experience for people with dementia. Furthermore, we observed those providers who were involved in both the diagnostic process and post-diagnostic process held more positive views of the diagnostic process compared to the providers involved in the diagnostic process only. It could be hypothesized that those providers involved in the diagnostic process and post-diagnostic support were more satisfied because they were better able to guide patients towards post-diagnostic support. It could be hypothesized that those healthcare providers who work across the diagnostic trajectory and post-diagnostic support have a broader knowledge base thus identifying knowledge as an important component of the integration of care. However, the exact mechanisms remain unclear as we were unable to carry out statistical group comparison due to small group sizes or to substantiate this with qualitative data as it did not contain any specification on whether providers were involved in the diagnostic trajectory, post-diagnostic support or both. Future research could investigate this interesting finding further to identify insights to facilitate the integration of the diagnostic process with subsequent post-diagnostic support. Strengths and limitations This study included multiple countries, strengthening our findings as they identify common insights among these countries emphasizing the universal aspects that can support the transition between the diagnostic trajectory and post-diagnostic support. The authors acknowledge that healthcare systems differ across countries and thus also affect the transition between the diagnostic trajectory and post-diagnostic support. However, we previously identified similar patient and caregiver experiences on support across countries despite the different setups of the respective healthcare systems (26).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw