Psychiatric patient needs assessment as it pertains to discharge planning

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between the post-discharge needs of psychiatric unit patients as assessed by the patients themselves and the nursing staff assigned to care for these patients. The same assessment inventory was sent to each patient following discharge to study the relationship between the needs identified while hospitalized and those identified following discharge. A theoretical framework was formulated based on the concepts of needs, coping and adaptation. The exploratory/descriptive research design was used. Thirty-five patients and their nurses (31) on psychiatric wards located in general hospitals (one in a large central Alberta city and two others in smaller southern Alberta cities serving a rural as well as an urban population) were sampled. Information was collected by means of a questionnaire and a personal data information sheet. The questionnaire was designed to measure post-discharge needs as identified by the patient and his/her nurse during the patient's period of hospitalization. The data sheets were used to collect demographic material relative to the personal characteristics of the participants. Data were analyzed by using the Pearson r correlation method which identified or defined the degree of correlation between the numerous variables. Analysis of the data revealed that nurses better assessed those patients who were similar to themselves in such characteristics as age, sex and employment status. The overall correlation coefficient between the nurses ' assessment of post-discharge needs and the patients ' assessment of these needs was a low positive relationship. As for implications to the profession, it is important that nurses become more aware of their patients' needs and that the patients become more involved in the discharge planning process. Further studies are needed to examine the effects of discharge planning on recidivism and the nurses ' role in the discharge planning process