The Impact of Revised Discharge Instructions on Patient Satisfaction.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The impact of discharge instructions on a patient's experience is not fully understood. This research explored whether nurse- and physician-generated discharge instructions had a positive effect on patient perceptions regarding their discharge experience.

Methods

We compared Press Ganey discharge-related patient satisfaction scores for the year prior to and the year subsequent to implementing revised discharge instructions for all patients admitted to a 180-bed community-based hospital.

Results

Following the implementation of our revised discharge instructions, patient satisfaction significantly improved (84.7% vs 83%, P < .01). Patients responded that they felt ready for discharge (86.6% vs 84.9%, P = .01) and were satisfied with instructions for home care (87.8% vs 85.3%, P < .01).

Discussion

This study finds that a novel discharge instruction set produced by both the nursing and physician staff may improve patient perceptions with the discharge process.

SUBMITTER: Waniga HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5513645 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature