Date of Graduation

Fall 12-17-2021

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

College/School

School of Nursing and Health Professions

Program

MSN project

Abstract

Problem: The Discharge Nurse (DN) Role Implementation project aims to reduce the delay in the discharge process and patient length-of-stay. With the current microsystem discharge process, there are observed barriers to timely discharge related to various discharge tasks and interdisciplinary communication methods.

Context: This project was implemented in a metropolitan hospital within Northern California, on a unit that serves medical-surgical, oncology, and geriatric patients. There are 35 registered nurses (RN’s), eight certified nursing assistants, one charge manager, one assistant charge manager, one clinical nurse leader, and four clinical nurse specialists (oncology).

Interventions: The intended aim of this project is to establish a discharge nurse (DN) onto the unit to act as a lateral integrator and coordinator in the discharge process, and incorporate an electronic discharge checklist to aid in communication and task accountability.

Measures: The success of this implementation would be measured by HCAHPS scores, discharge information and length-of-stay (LOS) data, and hospital-specific reports (HSR’s) to determine readmission rates of the microsystem.

Results: Due to limitations with time and resources, this project was not implemented on the unit. However, the expected outcomes include a reduction in time between actual discharge time and time of discharge orders, improved patient satisfaction scores, and a reduction in readmission rates and hospital costs.

Conclusion: While the intervention could not be implemented, the data collected from this project supports the value and need for a DN on the unit in order to address the barriers to timely discharge that were identified.

Download

Share

COinS