Nurses' role in delivering discharge education to general surgical patients: A qualitative study

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Author(s)
Kang, Evelyn
Tobiano, Georgia A
Chaboyer, Wendy
Gillespie, Brigid M
Year published
2020
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Aims: To explore nurses' perceived role and experience in providing discharge education to general surgical patients. Design: Qualitative, using focus groups and face-to-face individual interviews. Methods: Purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to recruit nurses from the general surgical wards in a tertiary hospital in Queensland, Australia. Semi-structured interviews (three focus groups and four individual interviews) were conducted with 21 nurses involved in delivering postoperative discharge education from August 2018 - July 2019. Interview data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results: Four ...
View more >Aims: To explore nurses' perceived role and experience in providing discharge education to general surgical patients. Design: Qualitative, using focus groups and face-to-face individual interviews. Methods: Purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to recruit nurses from the general surgical wards in a tertiary hospital in Queensland, Australia. Semi-structured interviews (three focus groups and four individual interviews) were conducted with 21 nurses involved in delivering postoperative discharge education from August 2018 - July 2019. Interview data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results: Four themes emerged: assuming responsibility for patient education in the absence of discharge communication; supporting patients to participate in self-management after hospitalization; variability in the resources, content and delivery of discharge education; and meeting operational demands compromises the quality of patients' discharge education. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of nurses' role and the challenges encountered in delivering effective discharge education. These findings can be used to identify strategies to enhance discharge communication among health professionals and standardize the delivery of education to improve surgical patients' postoperative outcomes. Impact: Ineffective discharge education contributes to patients' poor management of their postdischarge recovery. Developing an understanding of nurses' role in discharge education can inform policies and nursing practice to improve patients' well-being and reduce the potential for unplanned and emergency care.
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View more >Aims: To explore nurses' perceived role and experience in providing discharge education to general surgical patients. Design: Qualitative, using focus groups and face-to-face individual interviews. Methods: Purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to recruit nurses from the general surgical wards in a tertiary hospital in Queensland, Australia. Semi-structured interviews (three focus groups and four individual interviews) were conducted with 21 nurses involved in delivering postoperative discharge education from August 2018 - July 2019. Interview data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results: Four themes emerged: assuming responsibility for patient education in the absence of discharge communication; supporting patients to participate in self-management after hospitalization; variability in the resources, content and delivery of discharge education; and meeting operational demands compromises the quality of patients' discharge education. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of nurses' role and the challenges encountered in delivering effective discharge education. These findings can be used to identify strategies to enhance discharge communication among health professionals and standardize the delivery of education to improve surgical patients' postoperative outcomes. Impact: Ineffective discharge education contributes to patients' poor management of their postdischarge recovery. Developing an understanding of nurses' role in discharge education can inform policies and nursing practice to improve patients' well-being and reduce the potential for unplanned and emergency care.
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Journal Title
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Copyright Statement
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Nurses' role in delivering discharge education to general surgical patients: A qualitative study, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2020, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14379. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Subject
Nursing
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
discharge education
general surgery