Situations of Discharge Planning for Stroke Patients Chumphon-Khet-Udomsakdi Hospital, Thailand

Abstract

Background: Discharge planning for stroke patients is important because stroke patients are often disabled and that take a long time to recover. A comprehensive discharge plan helps the patients preparing for care and reducing resource usage and cost.

Objective: To study the situation of discharge planning for stroke patients at Chumphon-Khet-Udomsakdi Hospital, Thailand.

Material and methods: This is a quality research. The informants consisted of 3 groups, which were related to stroke discharge planning, total 14 people. They consisted 8 health personnels in Chumphon-Khet-Udomsakdi Hospital, 3 community health personnels and caregivers of 3 stroke patients. Donabidian method was used for a conceptual frameworks. Data were collected using individual interview questions and small group discussions. The tool passes content analysis checks by 5 experts. Document review and qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis.

Result: 1) Regarding the structure, the communication is often one way. It lacked defined roles, responsibilities and interagency coordination. Many stroke patients are disposed early while process care arrangements were not ready and there was no backup plan 2) Regarding the process, it lacked a clear pattern for caring for stroke patients. Various groups in a multidisciplinary team worked separately, without appropiate information exchange. 3) Regarding the results, 1) 12.2% of patients were not fully prepared. They had to coordinate with the community for continuous care 2) The discharge of patients due to delayed preparation was 2.6% and 3) The lack of communication channels for direct consultation was 6.4% and readmission was 2.4%. The research results reflect the need to develop a participatory discharge planning model and improve discharge planning.

Conclusion:  Stroke discharge planning management at Chumphon-Khet-Udomsakdi Hospital lacks a clear stroke discharge planning model and coordination between multidisciplinary teams.