Teaching Adult Learners Knowledge About Care Transition (TALK-ACT): A Quality Improvement Project to Promote Nursing Communication

There is a growing incentive to recognize a way of improving the hospital discharge process to empower patients to succeed in care transition. Nurses play a crucial role in the prevention of hospital readmission by focusing on high-quality discharge instructions (Hesselink et al., 2014). When a patient is successful in self-care the improvement to the discharge process reduces unnecessary hospital readmissions (Roberts, Moore, & Jack, 2017). This doctoral project aimed to provide insight into a growing hospital discharge problem, the underlying causes, and an overview of results from a change in processes. Both communication and patient comprehension play significant roles in patients’ transition to self-care and satisfaction scores (McIlvennan, Eapen, & Allen, 2015). The purpose of this process improvement project was to determine if the change in discharge instruction and education from the current process to that of teaching adult learners knowledge about care transition (TALK-ACT) would improve patient satisfaction, as evidenced by an increase in Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey scores. The information was utilized to determine decisions for improvements in the current practice of patient discharge instructions, patient education, and follow-up guidelines to increase HCAHPS scores and prevent frequent readmissions