Objective： To ascertain the implementation status of discharge planning in hospitals using a national survey, and to elucidate the factors related to discharge planning system maintenance.

Methods： A questionnaire survey was conducted in November 2012 at 2600 hospitals nationwide with 100 or more hospital beds. Participants were the directors of the nursing care departments or staff members involved in discharge planning at these locations.

Result： A total of 831 hospitals were included in the analysis (response rate: 32%). Discharge planning departments were set up at approximately 80% of the hospitals, while discharge planning nurses (DPNs) were employed at approximately 60%. With regard to the maintenance status of the hospitals’ discharge planning system, the implementation rates were high for development of a specific screening questionnaire for patients requiring hospital discharge planning and development of guidelines that describe the discharge planning procedure. However, the implementation rate for education of hospital nurses was low. Furthermore, the results of logistic regression analysis suggested that “employment of a DPN” was significantly positively correlated with many items related to system maintenance.

Conclusion： We believe the results of this study can be utilized by hospitals when maintaining or reviewing implementation systems for hospital discharge planning.

Purpose：To identify characteristics of home care nursing related to the provision of personal hygiene assistance from textbook presentations on the subject.

Method：The CiNii Books database was used to search for textbooks regarding home care nursing that included information on personal hygiene assistance. A total of 16 textbooks on home care nursing were analyzed for content with regard to personal hygiene assistance according to Berelson’s content analysis procedure.

Results：The characteristics of personal hygiene assistance in home care nursing were found to be (1) the assessment of not only the condition of patients and medical information, but also the living environment, the physical and psychological condition of families, and social resources; (2) having physical, psychological, and social benefits for the person receiving care, and psychological benefits for the family; (3) requiring the integration of various types of associated information to determine how assistance should be provided, and what tools would be needed to do so, and to consider the use of social resources; and(4) requiring multi-disciplinary collaboration adapted to patients and families, improvement in the living environment, creative usage of tools on the basis of the financial situation, and explanations of procedures to families carrying out personal hygiene assistance.

Conclusion：The analysis suggested that effective instruction on personal hygiene assistance during home care nursing requires the development of teaching materials and approaches, including sample cases, based on the above mentioned characteristics.