Discharge Planning for Hospitals

Paper Summary:

This paper evaluates hospital discharge procedures. The author cites a number of empirical research studies which look at caregiver and patient attitudes toward discharge practices. The author also discusses the legal, moral and procedural considerations a hospital must take in determining its discharge plan. The paper concludes that while systematization is important, flexibility is also crucial to ensure that the individual patient's needs are met.

From the Paper:

"There have been a number of studies concerned with the issue of patient discharge practices. Studies on decision making in discharge planning have investigated patient participation (Coulton, Dunkle, Chow, Haug, & Vielhaber, 1988; Coulton, Dunkle, Goode, & MacKintosh, 1982) and social workers' perceptions of patient participation (Abrahamson, 1988). To date, no studies have conceptualized discharge planning as a social process of small-group decision-making by elderly patients, family caregivers, and discharge planners. Participants' perceptions of the process are unknown."

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