Date of Conferral

9-23-2026

Date of Award

9-23-2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Sandra Wise

Abstract

Too many psychiatric patients leave the hospital without a follow-up appointment, a gap that may cost lives. Research has consistently shown that the days immediately after discharge from psychiatric inpatient or emergency care are among the most dangerous in a patient’s trajectory, marked by elevated suicide risk, relapse, and avoidable readmission. Yet, across behavioral health settings, completion of outpatient follow-up within 7 days of discharge remains inconsistent; typically, standardized processes are often missing. This doctoral project in staff education was created to fill that gap and examined whether implementing a standardized discharge transition protocol, supported by targeted, interdisciplinary staff education, could improve scheduling and completion of 7-day follow-up appointments compared with usual discharge practices. Development drew on systematic evidence synthesis; the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation instructional design model; expert review; pre- and posttest knowledge assessment; competency validation; and descriptive outcome analysis. The project deliverables included a staff education presentation, a standardized discharge checklist, a workflow handout, a competency checklist, pre- and post-education assessments, a chart audit tool, an outcome dashboard, a milestone tracker, a barrier log, and a plan-do-study-act tracking tool. Knowledge scores improved from pre-education (M =64%) to post-education (M = 91%). Follow-ups improved from 48% to 88%, 7-day follow-up increased from 32% to 80%, 30-day readmissions declined from 24% to 12%, and emergency visits decreased from 28% to 12%. This project translated evidence into practice in a fair, sustainable, and patient-safety-centered way.

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