Optimizing the Hospital Discharge Process: Perspectives of the Health Care Team

Prior research capturing pharmacists' perspectives on the discharge process has shown that their involvement is essential. Given the multidisciplinary nature of the hospital environment, it is important to understand the perspectives of nonpharmacist health care providers.

To explore the perspectives of nonpharmacist health care providers concerning current discharge practices, components of an effective discharge plan, and perceived barriers to an optimal discharge, and to explore their expectations of pharmacists at discharge.

This qualitative study used key informant interviews of allied health professionals and prescribers at Vancouver General Hospital and North Island Hospital Comox Valley (British Columbia). Participants primarily working on general medicine, family practice, or hospitalist wards were invited to participate.

A total of 16 health care providers participated, consisting of 12 allied health professionals and 4 prescribers. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed 5 themes for each group. The following 3 themes were common to both groups: systems-related barriers to an optimal discharge; patient- and community-related barriers to an optimal discharge; and patient involvement and education. For allied health professionals, themes of prioritization of patients for discharge and direct communication/teamwork were also key for an optimal discharge. Prescriber-specific themes were limitations related to technology infrastructure and inefficiency of existing collaborative processes. Key responsibilities expected of the pharmacist at discharge included preparing the discharge medication reconciliation and prescriptions, addressing medication-related cost concerns, organizing adherence aids/tools, and providing medication counselling.

Further studies are warranted to investigate optimization of the discharge process through implementation of standardized discharge protocols and electronic health record-related tools. The primary responsibilities of the pharmacist at discharge, as perceived by study participants, were consistent with previous literature.