title: Effectiveness of a pilot project of discharge planning in Taiwan.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a nurse-designed discharge-planning project in a teaching hospital in Taiwan. A before-and-after quasi-experimental design was used. Craniotomy (n = 112) and stroke (n = 171) patients were recruited and divided into control and intervention groups. Outcome indicators included length of hospital stay, change in activities of daily living (ADL), rate of nursing home placement, rate of unplanned readmission, and level of satisfaction. In the stroke sample length of hospital stay was shorter in the intervention group than in the control group. In the craniotomy sample unplanned readmission was less frequent in the intervention group than in the control group. No differences were found between the control and intervention groups in other outcome indicators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Tzu
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chang-Yao
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Tong-Yuan
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Tai
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000451:nursing; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015399:Nursing Research; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards*; D010359:Patient Readmission; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000451:nursing; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000451:nursing; D013624:Taiwan