A study on factors that would improve discharge planning by ward nurses: Results of the Team Approach questionnaire

Abstract

Our aim was to study whether a team approach would improve discharge planning by ward nurses. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 463 nurses working in 22 wards at six institutions in prefecture A. The questionnaire included the Discharge Planning of Ward Nurses (DPWN) rating scale, originally- developed questions on the team approach, questions on personal characteristics and experience, and questions about the ward where the nurse works. Three hundred three nurses (65.4%) returned the questionnaire, and 263 questionnaires (56.8%) with valid responses were analyzed. The mean age of the respondents was 34.5 (±10.1) years; 38.1% of the respondents were in their 20s and 28.7% were in their 30s. Four factors related to ward nurses' team approach were extracted : self-awareness and behavior as a specialist, recognition of the importance of maintaining a team approach, maintaining good relationships among coworkers, and difficulty in working with other specialties. Self-awareness and behavior as a specialist (β=0.528), introduction of clinical pathways (β=0.169), learning experiences in discharge planning (β=0.127), and introduction of electronic charts (β=0.113) were identified as factors that would assist nurses with discharge planning. These data suggest the importance of enhancing each nurse's self-awareness and behavior as a specialist, the usefulness of systems such as clinical pathways and/or electronic charts, and learning experience in improving discharge planning by nurses.