Patients who have undergone surgical procedures often have self-care concerns in their preparation for discharge from the hospital. This article examines the research literature about information needs of postoperative patients prior to their discharge. The most common concerns were the incision/wound care, pain management, activity level, monitoring for complications, symptom management, elimination, and quality of life. Because of their clinical knowledge of the perioperative experience, wound, ostomy, and continence nurses and other advanced practice nurses have a critical role in the development of discharge-educational programs for postoperative patients and caregivers. Because unmet discharge needs can contribute to poor patient outcomes and readmission, it is critical that wound, ostomy, and continence nurses, advanced practice nurses, and clinical staff nurses accurately identify patients' informational needs and find ways to meet these needs especially with the aging population, new/advanced surgical procedures, vulnerability/poverty, and literacy level of patients.
Patients were able to verbalize their concerns about going home with a wound. Concerns about discharge may help to direct patient teaching in preparation for discharge. Teaching literature could include the most common concerns, as well as ways to avoid misinformation about wound care. Discharge teaching needs to begin early so that patients feel they have adequate time to learn and ask questions. Further research is needed about patients' wound care knowledge and discharge concerns.
Coordinating insulin administration, glucose monitoring, and meal delivery within the tight time frames required for rapid-acting insulin is a significant challenge not being met. Timeliness of diabetes nursing care is not the sole determining factor to good glucose control in hospitalized patients. Standards regarding timing of these activities need to be evaluated.
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