Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Deborah Lewis

Abstract

Discharge instructions provided to patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) are often provided in a way that is neither clear nor concise. Patients are often discharged home without a clear understanding of their diagnosis, medications, reasons to return to the ED, follow-up instructions, or how to manage their care at home during their illness. Therefore, a guideline needed to be developed in order to help the ED staff provide clear and concise discharge instructions to patients discharged from the ED. The Ace Star Model of Knowledge Transformation was the foundation for the development of the evidence-based guideline. A formative group of 7 individuals was created to critique the initial draft of the guideline, and a final version of the guideline was then distributed to 10 medical professionals to aid in the approval and determination of the quality of the guideline. The data analysis from the formative group questionnaire, and the appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation tool led to the recommendations for a guideline on the delivery of evidence-based discharge instructions. This project has implications for social change in practice by (a) increasing the awareness among medical professionals about the importance of their communication style on patient discharge and (b) allowing for more efficient communication to occur between them and their patients. The use of an evidence-based practice guideline for providing discharge instructions to patients discharged from the ED will allow improved quality of care to patients, efficient communication between the healthcare providers and patients, a positive impact for social change in practice, and a consistent and reliable method for patients to understand their discharge instructions in a way that is clear and concise.

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