Patient and Nurse Empowerment Program to Strengthen the Discharge Information and Communication

Introduction

Empowering patient on knowledge of self-care after discharge is crucial for patient safety and health. HAHO Patient Experience and Satisfaction Survey on Inpatient Service (PESS) 2015 showed area of improvement on provision of “Information on Leaving Hospital” in PYNEH.

Objectives

1. To empower patient knowledge and enhance patient satisfaction on discharge information. 2.To empower and facilitate nurses in providing concrete and written discharge information to patient.

Methodology

Working Group on Pre-discharge Patient Empowerment Program (PPEP) designed a discharge information toolkit with department specific information leaflets. These toolkits were given by nurses when patient upon discharge; they included instructions and side effects of common medications, the danger signals and recovery information; and the ward contacts. A “Discharge Medication Gentle Reminder” Label was stuck on Patient’s Copy to alert and educate patient for any changes of medication regime. All of them were packed in a specially designed zip bag to patient. After implementation of the program, a “Patient Telephone Survey” was conducted to discharged patients by trained hospital volunteers to solicit feedback and explore any improvement area from patients. Meanwhile, a “Nurse Satisfaction Survey” was conducted to get opinion from nurses.

Results & Outcome

From Apr to Aug 2018, 72.4% (239/330) of target patients completed the “Patient Telephone Survey”. Compared with the PESS in 2015, there was an overall improvement on provision of “Information on Leaving Hospital”. The average scores of four items ranged from 6.3 to 9.2 (0 - No; 5 - Yes, to some extent; 10 – Yes, completely or definitely). From Feb to May 2018, 79% (68/86) of nurses completed the “Nurses Satisfaction Survey”. Nurses agreed with the PPEP would raise patient’s satisfaction and facilitate them in conducting patient education upon discharge; they expressed the workload was acceptable and they supported the PPEP for continuous promotion. With the assistance of discharge information kit, nurses only spent average 4.6 minutes more on patient education upon discharge after implementation of this program. Conclusion: The PPEP was effective in strengthening the discharge information support to patient and facilitating nurses to provide concrete and written information to patient on discharge. The mutual communication and appreciations were achieved.