Abstract
Hospital A has 12 dedicated beds for patients with intractable neurological diseases, which are chronic conditions that increase dependence on medical care as they progress. Disease progression also varies by disease and by patient. Patients and their family become more anxious about discharge when they think about how much the patient’s condition has changed since admission. Caregivers must acquire specialized skills due to the patient’s increased dependence on medical care and the increased number of care tasks, and it takes time to master those skills. Discharge is associated with many financial, physical, and mental stressors, and in some cases discharge coordination is difficult and the timing for discharge is missed. We sought to investigate how to provide more efficient discharge support and conducted a case study of 3 patients with intractable neurological diseases. Here we discuss our findings and our creation of a discharge support manual that clarifies when to start discharge coordination, necessary preparations, and topics for counseling patients and caregivers.
