Eighty-nine percent of adult medical-surgical patients received more discharge informational content than they perceived they needed, with nonwhite patients reporting more content needed.
Observational
Most adult medical-surgical patients perceive receiving more discharge informational content than they need, though specific subgroups like nonwhite patients report needing more information.
Ensuring that patients' informational needs have been met prior to hospital discharge sets the stage for successful self-management of recovery at home. This secondary analysis study aims to identify differences in the amount of discharge teaching content needed and received by adult medical-surgical patients on the basis of their sociodemographic characteristics and hospitalization-related factors. The Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale (QDTS) is used to measure patients' perceptions of the amount of discharge-related informational content they needed and received. Eighty-nine percent of patients receive more informational content than they perceived they needed. Nonwhite patients report more content needed than White patients. Patients with prior hospitalizations and cardiac patients report greater amounts of content received. The QDTS content subscales provide a mechanism for assessing patient perceptions of discharge informational needs and discharge content received that can be used for clinical practice and quality monitoring.
Maloney et al. (Thu,) conducted a observational in Adult medical-surgical patients. Discharge teaching content was evaluated on Amount of discharge teaching content needed and received measured by the Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale (QDTS). Eighty-nine percent of adult medical-surgical patients received more discharge informational content than they perceived they needed, with nonwhite patients reporting more content needed.