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CAHE Discharge Planning for healthcare professionals

 

In order for healthcare professionals to provide the
most comprehensive discharge service to clients CAHE
has developed a number of tools designed for the
patient, the carer, community service staff, medical
practitioners and residential care staff. 

Discharge Planning (DCP) has become increasingly
important as the average hospital length of stay declines.

 

 

 

CAHE pilots new patient discharge planning DVD:

From hospital to home:

The road to a better recovery

CAHE DIscharge Planning DVD cover image

The new CAHE Discharge Planning Pilot DVD: From hospital to home will be trialled in 2008. 

 

CAHE is committed to well structured and successful discharge planning.  There are many practical issues patients may face when returning home from hospital and there can be many expected costs, financially and emotionally when a patient is unprepared for the return home. As a world leader in the field of Discharge Planning CAHE has produced a pilot DVD that will empower patients, their carers and family members to consider the practical issues about going home.

The CAHE Discharge Planning Pilot DVD, From hospital to home, is designed to be played on internal hospital broadcast systems, and is complemented by a detailed printed CAHE Patient Discharge Planning Checklist.

CAHE also provides printed checklists for clinicians to aid health practitioner training and highlight patient discharge issues, such as reducing re-hospitalisation and patient distress.


One minute excerpt of the CAHE Discharge Planning Pilot DVD:
From hospital to home

 

If you would like more information on the CAHE Discharge Planning Pilot DVD please contact:

Michelle Guerin, CAHE Discharge Planning Project Officer.

 

Additional CAHE Discharge Planning Tools for Healthcare Workers

 

  1. Survey and review tools for healthcare practitioners: medical practitioners, residential care staff & community workers

  2. Patient and carer assessment and feedback: Post discharge evaluation forms for patients and carers to return to their healthcare team

  3. Discharge Planning processes: DCP Flowchart, CAHE Asthma Algorithm for Discharge, Principles of discharge planning, DCP references, DCP research video: Beyond the Hospital Gates

 

These tools are specifically designed to facilitate discharge assessment and encourage discharge processes to evolve in response to the needs of patients and carers as well as the healthcare team.  Available literature suggests that best practice discharge planning recognises individual patients needs, bridges the hospital-community interface through collaboration of hospital and community services and ensures appropriate post-discharge support in the community (Discharge planning: Responsive Standards 2007, Hyde, Robert and Sinclair 2000, Parker et al. 2002, Richards and Coast 2003, Shepperd et al. 2004) (fig 1). Discharge planning can involve a range of organisational activities, which are usually instigated in hospital and continue into the community, in order to ensure that appropriate post-discharge supports are in place in a timely and effective manner.

Whilst the focus of CAHE is on allied health these tools are relevant across a range of disciplines and fields, and are suitable for most hospital discharge facilitations and post-discharge assessments.

1.    Survey and review tools for healthcare practitioners: medical practitioners, residential care staff & community workers

The CAHE discharge planning tools for healthcare staff include a number survey and review tools for healthcare practitioners:

Evaluation of Pilot study for patients and healthcare workers:

 

2.    Patient and carer assessment and feedback: Post discharge evaluation forms for patients and carers to return to their healthcare team

CAHE has created tools that respond to this evidence and provide assistance and tips for a strong post-discharge recovery as well as a method for healthcare teams to monitor, assess and modify post-discharge actions and activities.  The tools for patient and carer assessment and feedback are:

 

3.    Discharge Planning processes: DCP Flowchart, Principles of discharge planning, DCP references, DCP Video: Beyond the Hospital Gates

There area number of additional tools that healthcare professionals may find useful as background literature and a part of the formulation of their discharge planning processes:

There is strong literature evidence that patients can encounter a number of problems in the first few months after discharge from hospital (Bowles, Naylor and Foust 2002, Grimmer et al. 2000, Kvaal and Laake 2003, Lough 1996, Mahoney et al. 2000, Waters et al. 2001). These can include decreased levels of independence, increased reliance on others for help, inappropriate medication usage, falls, loss of confidence and lack of appropriate support. Older adults have been shown to be at increased risk of experiencing post-discharge problems because of the nature of their health conditions (often complex, chronic health conditions) and social situations (i.e. living alone, reduced social networks) (Bowles, Naylor and Foust 2002, Mistiaen, Duijnhouwer and Ettema 1999). These post-discharge problems can contribute to patients and families physical, social and/or emotional distress, which can lead to further complications and unplanned hospital readmissions, unnecessarily increasing demand on hospital resources (Mistiaen, Francke and Poot 2007, Sands et al. 2006).

Cohesive hospital-community discharge planning has been promoted as best practice in recent systematic reviews of research findings, as well as government policies on discharge planning practices (Parker et al. 2002, Phillips et al. 2004, Richards and Coast 2003, Shepperd et al. 2004).  CAHE is proud to lead the way in discharge planning research and provide tools to support healthcare professionals.

CAHE recommends that patients are provided with the CAHE Patient Discharge Planning Checklist to facilitate discharge and enable the patient to participate in their own discharge.

 


 

 

 

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