Implementing a discharge process for patients undergoing elective surgery: Rapid review

Hospital discharge is a 'vulnerable stage' in care. A delayed, inappropriate or poorly planned discharge increases hazards and costs, inhibiting recovery, and often leading to unplanned readmission. New discharge processes could boost practice, reduce the length of stay, and, consequently, reduce costs and improve patients' quality of life.

To identify technology based interventions that have been implemented to facilitate a safe and timely discharge procedure after elective surgery, and to describe implementation barriers and facilitators and patient satisfaction.

This rapid review followed a restricted systematic review framework, searching Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and ClinicalTrials.gov. for relevant studies published from 2015 to 2021 in English.

Eleven studies were included. Most interventions were machine-learning-based, and only one study reported patient involvement. Effective leadership, team work and communication were stated as implementation facilitators. The main barriers to implementation were: lack of support from leaders, poor clinical documentation, resistance to change, and financial and logistical concerns. None of the studies evaluated patient satisfaction.

Findings highlight factors that support the implementation of technology based interventions aimed at a safe and timely discharge process following elective surgery. Nurses play an important role in the provision of information, and in the development and implementation of discharge processes.