The majority of hospitals are expanding their commitment in order to reduce the cost of containment measures. As a result, patients are discharged at a time when they are not even ready to leave the hospitals. As a result, many healthcare personnel are under pressure to judge the patients' readiness for discharge from the hospital. The majority of researchers have identified certain issues that should be addressed during the discharge planning process.
Most healthcare facilities frequently lack effective discharge planning (Merten et al.2011). Several patients, therefore, have fallen victims of insufficient information and low-quality instructions by the nurses. Most of them end up becoming sick again and goes back for treatment hence an increased medical costs. According to Wu et al. (2016), there is lack of correlation that exists between the community care and hospitals thus leaving the discharged patients with a management problem of post-discharge anomalies. This increases the death rates morbidity among the patients.
Significance of the problem
The discharge planning helps in the smooth transmission of the patients from the hospitals to various homes thus ensuring that the patients that have been released function optimally. The workers of the hospitals prepare different hospitals to leave by informing them of the effects of their conditions to ensure they recover fully. Another critical significance of the problem is that it allows the patients to obtain resources that may help with proper functioning (Merten et al.2011). This is usually done by evaluating the social, psychological and financial resources of the particular patient and family members.
A study also showed that with a proper discharge planning the outcomes of any illness that an individual may be suffering from may be positive since adequate information and instructions are usually provided to them. Further, discharge planning aids to avoid readmission and a more extended stay at the health facilities thus reduces any additional and unnecessary medical costs by the patients (Goncalves-Bradley et al.2016). An essential element of discharge planning is effective communication between the healthcare professionals and the individual patients. It is a critical component in the planning since it enables patients to comply with self-management of acute care conditions and medications.
Purpose of the paper
The paper aims to illustrate the roles that are played by the nurses in the discharge planning and the effects the planning process has on the patients such as positive patient outcomes and the making of properly informed decisions on self-management of acute care conditions.
Description of findings
The tests on the effects of kangaroo mother care on vital physiological parameters of the low birth weight new-born show that descriptive statistics on temperatures increase from a mean of about 36.5 to 36.9.The inferential statistics on temperature also rose.A consistent result was obtained making the research valid and reliable.
Maternal experience of kangaroo holding
Some themes emerged from the assessment. The initial topic that was found was the maternal infants' benefits of the kangaroo holding. A key subheading was then identified that is being needed, confidence in knowing and heart-warming. Another theme found from the analysed data was the need for support for holding. Certain sub-themes were identified in the central theme that included quiet space, a schedule for holding and nursing guidance. The third item was satisfaction with interactions. The subtopic that merged was learning to mother and feeling connected.
Concepts
Nurses have various roles to perform during the discharge planning process. According to Goncalves-Bradley et al. (2016), the vital function of the nurses primarily involves communicating with the patients and the patient's families certain information relating to the illness upon release from the hospitals. This helps in the attainment of a smooth transition of health care across the interfaces of the services to the individual. Discharge planning plays a significant role in the health of the released patients. For example, it may bring about the reduction of readmission rates of people in the healthcare facilities. Also, it aids in decreasing the length of stay in the hospitals which could be as a result of inadequate information provided to the patients. Another positive impact is that it improves the health outcomes of various people as it provides information on self-management of acute, chronic diseases (Wu et al.2016).
Methods used
Both the quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the collection of data. The quantitative was mainly used since it provided immediate feedback and accurate results in terms of numerical data to the investigators. Qualitative approach, on the other hand, were used by the researchers because it provided an in-depth information to the users.
Participants
The principal participants were the nurses, doctors, patients and the family members of the patients. The other stakeholders were the researchers and officials of various research teams.
Instruments used
Testing for reliability
The tool that was used was questionnaire. Test-retest reliability was carried out where most of the patients gave almost the same answers.
Testing for validity
External validity was tested using interviews as an instrument. A sample of the information obtained from the investigated individuals was used to generalize the whole lots of patients in various hospitals.
Answer to purpose question asked
Effective discharge planning helps in the reduction of readmission of the patients with acute, chronic diseases since it provides an appropriate information with instructions which enables patients to make informed decisions for self-management after leaving the hospitals.
Next step for group
The next step for the team is to utilize an effective communication with the patients during the discharge planning aimed at reducing the rates of readmission of patients and also to enable individuals to make informed decisions for self-management.
Conclusion
In summary, effective discharge planning plays a critical role that determines the outcome of various patinets.It also help in the reduction of readmission of older patients in the hospitals. The key element that should be taken into account is communication between nurses and patients which aids in the enhancement of proper healthcare. The nurses should, therefore, be trained on the various communication skills to enable them to implement the planning effectively.
References
Goncalves-Bradley, D.C., Lannin, N. A., Clemson, L. M., Cameron, I. D., & Shepperd, S.
(2016). Discharge planning from the hospital. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. doi:10.1002/14651858.cd000313.pub5
. Merten, H., Lubberding, S., Wagtendonk, I. V., Johannesma, P. C., & Wagner, C. (2011, March 21). Patient safety in elderly hip fracture patients: design of a randomised controlled trial. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6963-11-59
Wu, L., Chou, M., Liang, C., Lin, Y., Ku, Y., & Wang, R. (2016). Factors Affecting One-year Mortality of Elderly Patients after Surgery for Hip Fracture. International Journal of Gerontology, 10(4), 207-211. doi:10.1016/j.ijge.2016.02.004
