Hospital discharge planning: Perspectives and reflections on social protections in Portugal

Abstract

Introduction The objective of this article is to understand and analyze the phenomenon of social protections in Portugal, at the Central Lisbon Hospital Center in particular. Material and methods: By means of a descriptive and interpretive analysis, we aim to analyze levels of social protection at the national level for the period from January to December of 2016. In order to analyze the CHLC discharges, a specific record sheet was created to collect the following parameters: user profile, causes of postponement and destination after discharge. Results: The data show that CHLC’s social protections very much resemble those of other hospitals in the country. In the year 2016, 171 patients with high status were registered for social reasons, representing 4.2% of the patients that gave rise to social detention. In total, they remained in this situation for 4,080 days, with an average of 23.8 days per patient. Discussion: Although the social worker’s timely, organized and effective intervention is a determinant of hospital discharge, there are a number of internal and external causes that may prevent the clinical discharge from coinciding with social discharge, therefore depriving the patient of social protections.