Effectiveness of a pilot project of discharge planning in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a nurse-designed discharge-planning project in a teaching hospital in Taiwan. A before-and-after quasi-experimental design was used. Craniotomy (n = 112) and stroke (n = 171) patients were recruited and divided into control and intervention groups. Outcome indicators included length of hospital stay, change in activities of daily living (ADL), rate of nursing home placement, rate of unplanned readmission, and level of satisfaction. In the stroke sample length of hospital stay was shorter in the intervention group than in the control group. In the craniotomy sample unplanned readmission was less frequent in the intervention group than in the control group. No differences were found between the control and intervention groups in other outcome indicators.