Merits of Personalized Discharge Teaching

A study published in Circulation adds to the increasing body of literature showing that focused predischarge education given to individuals improves patient outcomes. Patients who received this attention, in the form of one-hour predischarge education required fewer hospital readmissions, conducted better self-care and incurred lower health care costs than patients who received routine discharge instructions.

In this study, discharge education included the nurse educator delivering a 60-minute, one-on-one teaching session. The nurse educator gave a Power Point presentation developed by the study’s authors that addresses 50 heart failure topics, ranging from causes to symptom management. Amongst other things, patients had their individual questions answered, and also received a copy of CHF treatment guidelines “written in layman’s terms”.

Ultimately, the authors note, the costs of medical care are significantly reduced for the patient when the time is taken to do this additional discharge care.

Todd M. Koelling, Monica L. Johnson, Robert J. Cody, and Keith D. Aaronson. Discharge Education Improves Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure. Circulation, Jan 2005; 111: 179 - 185.