Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service II (Projects aiming to enhance clinical safety and outcomes, clinical governance / risk management)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service III (Projects aiming at quality service to patients and their carers)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong SL (1), Kam WP (1), Fong SM (1), Leung KN (1), Wan HY (1), Wong LY (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital
Introduction :
Discharge planning is crucial for patient safety and continuity of care. Inadequate information during discharge can jeopardize patient outcomes. To address these challenges, a standardized discharge package was implemented, featuring a discharge planning sheet, document collection folder, and adoption of Patient Discharge Information Summary (PDIS) to promotes safe discharge practices, improves documentation, and facilitate seamless care transition.
Objectives :
Objectives:
1) Improve nursing documentation in discharge process.
2) Standardize discharge planning & practices.
3)Improving communication among healthcare providers during care transition.
Methodology :
Methodology:
In November 2022, a standardized discharge planning package was implemented following the training of 45 nurses. The package includes: 1) A specialty discharge planning sheet to streamline discharge process and standardize documentation. It focused on 4 crucial discharge safety domains: care coordination, follow-up care, medication safety, and discharge communication. Its structured outline minimized missing steps and improved accessibility for healthcare providers, ensuring continuity of care.2) Adoption of Hospital Authority Patient Discharge Information Summary as discharge communication tool to provide comprehensive discharge information to patients and caregivers. Nurses received training to consistently supplement specialty additional details, such as updated medication information and special alerts, to ensure effective communication of information.3) An individual designated folder as a centralized location for collecting essential discharge documents since admission. Three months later, internal audits and consolidation training were conducted to ensure alignment and promote continuous improvement.
Result & Outcome :
The implementation of the standardized discharge planning package yielded positive outcomes. All nurses unanimously acknowledged its importance in delivering essential discharge documents and information to patients, preventing oversights, and maintaining consistency and accuracy in documentation.
Feedback from 9 mentors and 20 nurses with limited experience (<1 year) underscored its’ positive impact. Mentors reported improved training effectiveness, with the planning sheet guiding novice nurses and addressing documentation gaps. Novice nurses found the package particularly beneficial, as it provided discharge safety hints and proactive documentation measures.
By adopting PDIS as discharge communication tool, nurses' discharge practices & education were standardized, resulting in improved medication reconciliation and patient safety. It played a crucial role in equipping patients with necessary information and support during care transition, leading to a 75% reduction in post-discharge inquiries from patients and caregivers.
The introduction of the designated folder system significantly reduced missing documents by 70%, improving discharge organization and accessibility. Furthermore, nursing discharge processing time was reduced by 20%, leading to more efficient and timely discharges.
In summary, the comprehensive discharge package has shown to improve nursing discharge organization, patient care outcomes, and discharge safety. It guides nurses in documentation, mitigates the risk of missing crucial information, and ensures patient safety during the transition from hospital care.
