Effects of a screening tool and conferences on nurses’ discharge-planning ability in a hospital without a discharge-planning department

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the effects of adopting a screening tool and conferences for discharge planning on staff nurses’ practical ability to perform discharge planning procedures for high-risk patients requiring special discharge plans, in a hospital without a discharge-planning department.

Methods: A quasi-experimental single-group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 48 staff nurses and 68 patients in a 135-bed hospital in the Tokyo area. The intervention included the adoption of the Screening Tool for Discharge Planning and discharge-planning conferences in daily nursing practices. Staff nurses answered a self-administered questionnaire about their discharge planning before and after the intervention period and evaluated inpatient needs for discharge planning during the investigation period.

Results: Pre- and post-intervention self-evaluations of discharge-planning ability were obtained from 36 nurses. Scores on the screening and monitoring subscales and the sum total of the Discharge Planning-Process Evaluation Measurement significantly improved after the intervention. In addition, staff nurses could more accurately identify high-risk patients after the intervention, but the increase was not significant.

Conclusion: The intervention was successful in improving staff nurses’ discharge-planning abilities and possibly even the identification of high-risk patients, suggesting that the intervention may be effective in hospitals without discharge-planning departments.