Arza Ashkenasi
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel
Biography
Background: Studies show that patients after long hospitalization tend to develop dependency on the hospital staff. In some cases, the patients refuse to be discharge home from the hospital and it creates a problem because the hospital focused upon the need to reduce delayed discharges. Studies indicate some main discharge issues that influence on the patients: (1) Fear and stress to be far away from the hospital facilities, (2) Lack of information about community helping system, (3) Lack of family support, (4) Increasing of emotional aspects like anxiety and depression.
Aim: To develop discharge intervention plan in order to make better discharge preparations.
Method: The project managers are the head nurse and the social worker of the department. A plan was made for the patients in order to assess their needs and then make a discharge plan together with each one of them few days after they hospitalize in the unit. The plan included a reference to their needs like family support, contact and assistance from community services, arrangement of home care from their clinic and the possibility of getting mental and emotional assistance.
Results: Till now we saw that the patients need emotional support as well as practical help and they all express their satisfaction from the planning discharge intervention and they feel that the interaction reduce substantially their concerns from going home.
Conclusion: By planning the discharge in advance we manage to reduce the pressures associated with release from the hospital. Patients noted that, for them a good discharge has been associated to the degree of security they felt, and they felt safer knowing that the staffs at the hospital taking care of everyone’s needs.