Discharge Preparation Practices among Nurses: A Study at the Trauma and Specialist Hospital, Winneba.

Abstract

Discharge preparation (DP) is essential to nursing profession since nurses are in close proximity to patients in terms of their care. The study sought to explore the discharge preparation practices of nurses. The qualitative exploratory descriptive design was employed and purposive sampling technique was used to recruit thirteen (13) professional nurses from Trauma and Specialist Hospital, Winneba. Semi structured interview guide was used to collect data from the participants. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study was guided by Conceptual Model for Hospital Discharge Preparation (Weiss et al., 2015). Five main themes that guided this study were knowledge about discharge preparation, discharge planning practices, discharge coordination practices, discharge teaching practices, and challenges associated with discharge preparation. Additional theme that emerged from the data gathered was strategies used to enhance discharge preparation. It was recommended that discharge preparation should be a collective responsibility for all stake holders involved in the care of patients. Appropriate measures should therefore, be developed to ensure effective preparation of patients towards discharge.