Abstract
Background
Across Australia over one million patients are discharged from the emergency department.
Discharge planning involves the communication of healthcare information to optimise
patient safety, self-management and compliance with ongoing treatment. Little is known
about the adequacy of discharge planning, therefore, the aim of this study was to
explore the experience, confidence, satisfaction and perceptions of patients recently
discharged from ED..
Methods
The descriptive exploratory study was conducted in one district Tasmanian hospital.
Data collection involved patient telephone interviews and a retrospective medical
record audit.
Results
A convenience sample of 100 patients was used for the study. Overall, the majority
(93%) of patients understood their treatment, were confident to be discharged home
(88%), and satisfied (90%) with emergency care. The majority of patients' understood
their discharge diagnosis (86%) and were provided with verbal (84%) discharge information.
Discharge referral instructions were followed up by 60% of patients with 26% of patients
re-presenting to emergency.
Conclusions
The study highlighted that the majority of patients were satisfied with care, complied
with discharge healthcare information and confident to be discharged. However, a number
of patients failed to adhere to discharge follow up advice and re-presented to the
emergency.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 29, 2019
Accepted:
January 21,
2019
Received:
December 3,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
