Providing critical care patients with a personalised discharge summary: A questionnaire survey and retrospective analysis exploring feasibility and effectiveness
Providing critical care patients with a personalised discharge summary: A questionnaire survey and retrospective analysis exploring feasibility and effectiveness
Objectives: This paper reports on the potential value and feasibility of providing patients with a personalised discharge summary of their critical care stay. Design and methods: Fifty-one patient discharge summaries, written by nurses during a randomised controlled trial, were retrospectively analysed for readability, structure and quality. A questionnaire survey completed by trial patients (n= 42), their relatives (n= 21) and nurses (n= 170) explored user experience and feasibility. Quantitative questionnaire data were analysed descriptively and inferentially; qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Results: Most completed summaries achieved at least an average readability score and were of an acceptable quality. Motivation, time constraints and competing priorities were identified as key barriers to writing an effective summary; however, in the majority of cases, writing them had taken less than 15. minutes. Questionnaire data support that patient discharge summaries can help patients, relatives and ward nurses better understand and patients accept, what happened in critical care. Conclusion: Patient discharge summaries are likely to be a useful adjunct to existing discharge information, but further work is required to determine when and how they should be provided. With appropriate training and support, it is feasible for nurses to write discharge summaries in a busy critical care environment.
Critical care, Information, Patient discharge, Patient education handout, Rehabilitation, Relocation stress
69-76
Bench, Suzanne D.
c396c27a-eb40-49ce-84aa-571285a5b75a
Heelas, Karina
fd1386e3-3cbb-4cfb-b2c5-49a497be008b
White, Catherine
b0102300-5744-4458-a793-c447ac015a68
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
1 April 2014
Bench, Suzanne D.
c396c27a-eb40-49ce-84aa-571285a5b75a
Heelas, Karina
fd1386e3-3cbb-4cfb-b2c5-49a497be008b
White, Catherine
b0102300-5744-4458-a793-c447ac015a68
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Bench, Suzanne D., Heelas, Karina, White, Catherine and Griffiths, Peter
(2014)
Providing critical care patients with a personalised discharge summary: A questionnaire survey and retrospective analysis exploring feasibility and effectiveness.
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 30 (2), .
(doi:10.1016/j.iccn.2013.08.007).
Abstract
Objectives: This paper reports on the potential value and feasibility of providing patients with a personalised discharge summary of their critical care stay. Design and methods: Fifty-one patient discharge summaries, written by nurses during a randomised controlled trial, were retrospectively analysed for readability, structure and quality. A questionnaire survey completed by trial patients (n= 42), their relatives (n= 21) and nurses (n= 170) explored user experience and feasibility. Quantitative questionnaire data were analysed descriptively and inferentially; qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Results: Most completed summaries achieved at least an average readability score and were of an acceptable quality. Motivation, time constraints and competing priorities were identified as key barriers to writing an effective summary; however, in the majority of cases, writing them had taken less than 15. minutes. Questionnaire data support that patient discharge summaries can help patients, relatives and ward nurses better understand and patients accept, what happened in critical care. Conclusion: Patient discharge summaries are likely to be a useful adjunct to existing discharge information, but further work is required to determine when and how they should be provided. With appropriate training and support, it is feasible for nurses to write discharge summaries in a busy critical care environment.
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Published date: 1 April 2014
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We conducted a single centre pilot RCT funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) stream ( ISRCTN, 2011 ). The intervention evaluated during this trial was a User Centred Critical Care Discharge pack (UCCDIP), which included on its front page a patient discharge summary written by the critical care nurse. The aims and outcomes of this RCT and the intervention are fully described in Bench et al. (2012) . This paper focuses on the findings of a questionnaire survey of recruited participants and on a retrospective analysis of the patient discharge summaries completed during the trial.
Funding Information:
This report presents independent research commissioned by the NIHR under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0110-21026 ). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.
Keywords:
Critical care, Information, Patient discharge, Patient education handout, Rehabilitation, Relocation stress
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 470103
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/470103
ISSN: 0964-3397
PURE UUID: 88c008a3-639d-4c4e-a706-6c9facc9b4be
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Date deposited: 03 Oct 2022 16:50
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:17
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Contributors
Author:
Suzanne D. Bench
Author:
Karina Heelas
Author:
Catherine White
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