The Impact of Revised Discharge Instructions on Patient Satisfaction

Abstract

Introduction: The impact of discharge instructions on a patient’s experience is not fully understood. This research explored whether nurse- and physician-generated discharge instructions had a positive effect on patient perceptions regarding their discharge experience. Methods: We compared Press Ganey discharge-related patient satisfaction scores for the year prior to and the year subsequent to implementing revised discharge instructions for all patients admitted to a 180-bed community-based hospital. Results: Following the implementation of our revised discharge instructions, patient satisfaction significantly improved (84.7% vs 83%, P