Responsible safe discharge: social representation of primary health care nurses

To understand the social representation of Primary Health Care nurses regarding the process of Responsible Safe Discharge.

Qualitative research, theoretically grounded in the assumptions of the Theory of Social Representations, conducted between June and October 2024 in a municipality in western São Paulo State, with 16 Primary Health Care nurses. Data were collected through remote semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse technique.

Nurses understand Responsible Safe Discharge as essential to ensuring continuity of care, emphasizing the shared responsibility among hospital, family, and primary care. They highlighted weaknesses in communication between services and the need for an integrated electronic health record, standardized discharge processes, and caregiver training. These perceptions were organized into three central ideas: shared responsibility in care (62.5%); communication through email and counter-referral (37.5%); and the need for an electronic health record, discharge planning, and caregiver preparation (37.5%).

For nurses, Responsible Safe Discharge is crucial for care continuity but requires better communication between levels of health care and the use of integrated technologies to ensure its effectiveness.