Paediatric emergency nurses’ perceptions of parents’ understanding of discharge information: A qualitative study

Abstract

Purpose: To identify paediatric emergency department nurses’ perceptions of factors influencing parents’ understanding of discharge information. Procedures: Content analysis was used to analyse data from three semi-structured focus groups with nurses from a paediatric ED. Findings: Findings were interpreted within the three domains of structure, process, and outcomes from the Donabedian model. Within the structure domain, barriers to effective provision of discharge information included inexperienced emergency department staff and time policies. Enablers included availability of interpreter services. Process-related barriers included parents’ health related behaviour and health literacy, while enablers included ensuring parents understood discharge information. Nurses’ perceptions of ineffective outcomes involved the risk of parents receiving incomplete or inappropriate information. Nurses perceived effective outcomes in quality of care were related to their professional experience and competence in being able to provide useful information to parents. Conclusion: This study investigated ED nurses’ perceptions of factors that influence parents’ understanding of discharge information. Interpreting findings within the Donabedian model provided important directions for future improvements to structure, processes and outcomes for provision of discharge information to parents leaving a paediatric ED. Ultimately, the findings from this study could inform future research to maximise the role of ED nurses in providing a high quality of discharge care for children discharged from the ED.