Hospital discharge planning: perception of inpatient unit nurses

Abstract

Hospital discharge represents the return of a hospitalized person to their home and should be carried out in a responsible manner, reinforcing autonomy and self-care, in order to ensure continuity of treatment. The present study aimed to understand the perception of inpatient nurses about hospital discharge planning. It is a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach, developed in a virtual environment, with eight nurses working in a hospital inpatient unit, selected by snowball sampling, considering data saturation. Approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee. The results showed a predominance of female participants, aged between 30 and 35 years, single, and with a work experience of four to six years. The content of the interviews made it possible to construct two categories of analysis, “Discharge process centered on the medical professional: limited role of nurses” and “Hospital discharge: a process planned by the multidisciplinary team”, which included two subcategories “Discharge planning: safety, quality and continuity of care” and “Valuing the multidisciplinary team in hospital discharge”. It was understood that for nurses, hospital discharge planning occurs in a centralized manner in the physician or in a planned manner together with the multidisciplinary team, depending on the context in which the participants are inserted.