Patients' rights and the admission and discharge process

Abstract

This study examines what patients' admission to and discharge from hospital means for nurses in their relations with patients. The study focuses on the rights of patients and the rights and duties of nurses working in a general hospital and in the community. The 'information standard' is introduced, consisting of three conceptions: informed consent, informed referral and informed discharge. In-depth interviews have been conducted with patients (n = 11) and nurses (n = 22) to elucidate views on and personal experience of the admission and discharge process, in relation to the information standard. The interviews have been analysed by means of qualitative research methods. The results show that patients did not complain about the admission and discharge process, and that they were not informed about the information exchange between nurses working in hospital and in the community. In addition, community nurses were often not informed about a patient's admission to hospital. Nursing programmes for home care were arranged by community nurses and hospital nurses without co-ordination, resulting in unsuitable nursing care.

Patients’ autonomy in surgical care: a comparison of nurses’ perceptions in five European countries

“…1991). On the other hand, some studies have shown that patients themselves regard that they have received sufficient information (Dawes & Davison 1994; Klop et al. 1991).…”

“…In a study by Klop et al. (1991), patients ( n = 11) had no complaints about the information given by nurses during the hospital admission and discharge process.…”

Integrated Literature Review of Continuity of Care: Part 1, Conceptual Issues

“…Home care referral communication was equally important in initiating as well as reinstating services (Williams, Greenwell, & Groom, 1992). Written and verbal information exchange and patients' understanding of information were factors in communications (Klop, Van Wijmen, & Philipsen, 1991). Community nurses often were not informed about hospital admissions during home care, and inadequate exchange of information resulted in unsuitable arrangements.…”

Discharge planning: an exploratory study

“…The problems of discharging patients from hospital have been well documented in the literature over the last 20 years ( Brown, 1990; Klop, 1991; Armitage, 1994; McBride, 1995). Tierney (1993) outlines some of the shortcomings of hospital discharge arrangements found in the literature.…”