ICU nurses’ perceptions of discharge planning: a preliminary study

Surviving a critical illness through mutually being there with each other: A grounded theory study

“…The experience of participants in this study (for instance, see the section on coping in the broader environments) revealed the importance of careful discharge planning, post-ICU follow-up, and continuity of care in the community in enhancing patients' recovery and in addressing the special needs of their MFCs when they are required to care for their loved ones after discharge (Burr, 2002;Chaboyer et al, 2002;McCallum et al, 1996;Pearson et al, 2004). Although evaluation and searches for substantive evidence of such follow-up care like the critical care outreach service (CCOS) have been conducted by various researchers and their effectiveness is being debated (Ball et al, 2003;Cuthbertson, 2003Cuthbertson, , 2007Esmonde et al, 2006;Gao et al, 2007;Garcea et al, 2004;Priestley et al, 2004;Prinjha et al, 2009), nurses should not underestimate the value of CCOS as indicated by the experiences of patients and their MFCs in this study.…”

An exploration of the transition of patients from intensive care to the ward environment: A ward nursing perspective

“…Various reasons are discussed within the literature for a lack of discharge planning, the most significant being the dynamic nature of the ICU patient (Ball, 2005;Chaboyer, Foster, Kendall, & James, 2002;Schlemmer, 1989;Watts, Pierson, & Gardner, 2005;Whittaker & Ball, 2000). These patients ongoing care is then provided in the ward environment and impacts on ward nurses, particularly as these patients are highly dependent with multiple complex needs.…”

“…The concept of discharge planning in itself appears to be a low priority in intensive care (Chaboyer et al, 2002;Schlemmer, 1989;Watts et al, 2005). One of the main reasons for inadequate discharge planning is the dynamic nature of the intensive care environment.…”

“…Patients' conditions and/or acuity level was a considered a key factor by ICU nurses in a study by Chaboyer, Foster, Kendall and James (2002), as it may limit the value of discharge planning. Discharge planning is influenced by the nature of uncertainty that is related to intensive care patients' outcomes.…”

“…Schlemmer (1989) comments that ICU nurses consider that discharge planning is not a priority and that this process should occur after a patient is discharged from ICU. Interestingly, Chaboyer et al, (2002) found that ICU nurses were split 50/50 as to whether they thought it should occur before or after discharge from ICU. Chaboyer et al, highlights that ICU nurses feel uncertainty about the discharge planning, stating "----they lacked knowledge in the area of discharge planning despite their perception that doctors gave them sufficient direction" (p. 94).…”