Effective discharge policy: are we getting there?
OBJECTIVE
To determine patients' knowledge before admission about how many days they were likely to be hospitalised and, after discharge, to determine patients' perceptions of their 'readiness' to leave hospital following carotid endarterectomy. Usefulness of discharge communications to patients' GPs also was ascertained.


METHODS
Pre- and post-operative self-administered questionnaires to 133 patients and a follow-up telephone survey of GPs providing primary care to 118 of these patients.


RESULTS
Pre-operatively, the majority (84.2%) of patients recalled being told how many days they were likely to be hospitalised. Univariate analysis did not demonstrate any factors predicting positive recall. The majority (87.0%) of patients perceived themselves 'ready to go home' at discharge. Twenty-eight GPs (23.7%) had received both a discharge summary from the hospital and a personalized letter from the patient's surgeon. GP's rated the surgeons' letters as significantly more useful than discharge summaries (P = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Although hospitals are required by NSW Health's Effective Discharge Policy to inform patients about their likely length of stay in hospital, not all patients recalled whether they were so informed pre-operatively. Barriers impeding realisation of the NSW Health policy remain.
Middleton
Sandy
S
Centre for Applied Nursing Research, South Western Sydney Area Health Service, Liverpool, NSW. Sandy.Middleton@swsahs.nsw.gov.au
Appleberg
Michael
M
Girgis
Seham
S
Ward
Jeanette E
JE
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009517:New South Wales; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures