Effect of an educational intervention program on discharge planning for nurses and midwives

Abstract

Aims

To evaluate the effect of educational intervention program to improve the knowledge of nurses and midwives on discharge planning.

Method

The study employed a quasi-experimental pre-post design without control group. Total of 165 nurses and midwives working on general and critical care wards were included in the study. The researchers created a questionnaire based on the discharge planning form from the hospital's Quality and Risk Management team. To assess the respondent's knowledge of discharge planning. The questionnaire's validity and reliability were established using a biserial point validity test (>0.20) and a reliability test using the KR 20 formula (0.865). The study collected data before and after the program. Both univariate and bivariate analyses were used to analyze the data. The educational intervention took place between 31 January and 9 February 2022 and consisted of 11 sessions lasting between 60 and 120 min each. The researchers implemented the educational program with the assistance of materials provided by the hospital's Quality and Risk Management team.

Results

The study enrolled a total of 161 individuals (97% response rate). This study revealed that there were differences in nurses’ and midwives’ knowledge levels before and after the educational intervention (p value 0.001). However, there was no difference in the level of knowledge between in-charge and clinicals prior to and following the educational intervention (p value > 0.05). In addition, most of respondents (>90%) reported that the educational intervention program was very good. The respondents also suggested that the educational program on discharge planning should be conducted periodically.

Conclusions

The educational intervention program was successful in terms of increasing the knowledge of nurses and midwives. Monitoring and evaluating the knowledge of nurses and midwives regarding discharge planning is also essential for conducting periodic discharge planning training. In addition, a discharge planning module must be regularly reevaluated to ensure that discharge planning education meets the needs of patients and hospitals.