ABSTRACT
Objective: To improve the discharge planning ability of ward nurses, we carried out case conferences for discharged patients involving both ward nurses and visiting nurses, and assessed their effects.Methods: We compared the discharge planning ability of ward nurses with and without experience in home visits before discharge. The study involved 74 nurses from eight wards in three hospitals. We analyzed changes in the discharge planning ability of the 62 nurses without home visit experience after the case conferences.Results: Ward nurses with experience in home visits before discharge had significantly higher discharge planning ability than those without such experience. After a case conference, the discharge planning ability significantly changed for nurses without experience in home visits. Their attitude toward home care changed, and they recognized its importance, associating it with the words "poor-rich", "dirty-clean", and "confined-free". They also scored higher on the Discharge Planning Process Evaluation Measurement (DCP-PEM) for "understands the importance of educating the patient's family", and "devises a plan taking health care needs into account", and on the Discharge Planning Process Scale for hospital ward nurses for "makes contact with a care manager as early as possible".Conclusions: Involving ward nurses in home visits before discharge and case conferences with visiting nurses were effective educational methods to improve their discharge planning ability in the affective and psychomotor domain.