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Evidence Based Practice: Patient Discharge Education Barriers To Patient Education, Catherine Lyerly Lingle

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Evidence-based guidelines for discharge instructions, when successfully administered, reduce readmission rates in patients, leading to improved quality of life and economic savings. Unfortunately, effective delivery is complex and time consuming, placing a high demand on already overworked bedside nurses. Failure to provide complete discharge instructions can result in non adherence to patient treatment regimens and lack of essential follow-up, the most commonly identified reasons for readmissions. To improve quality of care, hospitals need to adopt a new model that incorporates delivery of intensive, one on one education to patients during the hospital stay with continuing support, guidance, and education throughout …