Improving Discharge Planning and Education of Nursing Students: A Collaborative Approach

Nurses require training to provide discharge teaching yet nursing students are often not assigned the task of discharge teaching and are overwhelmed by the task once they enter the workforce (London, 2004). Few nursing programs provide opportunities for nursing students to participate in quality improvement projects. In an attempt to decrease post-discharge adverse events (AE) and increase exposure to discharge teaching and quality improvement by nursing students, 13 nursing students in a baccalaureate undergraduate nursing program assigned to a DEU in a sub-acute rehabilitation facility were provided with instruction utilizing the evidenced-based teach-back method. The nursing students conducted the discharge teaching to 22 patients discharged to home utilizing the teach-back method. Follow-up phone calls were conducted by the DNP student 72 hours after discharge utilizing a structured questionnaire to assess the effectiveness of the discharge teaching. Six target outcomes were identified. For the first five target outcomes, percentages were calculated from the responses obtained from the questionnaire, and the target outcomes were met or exceeded indicating that the evidenced-based teach-back method was an effective method to be utilized for discharge teaching. The final target outcome only revealed one statistically signification correlation between the number of medications on discharge and the patient’s indication that all questions were answered prior to discharge. As the number of medications on discharge increased, so did the probability the patient would still have medication questions after discharge. The correlation identified the need to spend more time on mediation teaching for patients with increased numbers of medications.