The discharge conversation: a phenomenographic interview study

Studies have highlighted deficiencies in the information given by nurses to surgical patients. Studies also show that the role of the nurse in connection with the discharge of patients after surgery is unclear. The aim of the study was therefore to elicit and to explore registered nurses' conceptions of the phenomenon of nursing care information given to surgical patients in connection with hospital discharge.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen nurses at surgical unites at the southern parts of Sweden. The interviews were transcribed and then analysed according to the phenomenographic approach.

The analysis resulted into three descriptive categories which conjointly may be said to express the general conceptions of the informants. Thus, according to the informants, the provision of nursing care information in connection with the discharge of surgical patients is: (i) not a nursing priority, (ii) adapted to the context of care, and (iii) a possible enhancement of the nursing process and the quality of care.

The result of the study implies that the discharge conversation may be seen as an opportunity for the nursing profession to formalise and to enhance the quality of care in connection with the discharge of surgical patients.