Patient selection: at hospital discharge
Exclusions:
(1) A patient disoriented to time, person and/or place.
(2) A patient unable to communicate (including language barriers).
Parameters - discharge record vs patient's ability to recall
(1) number of key diagnoses
(2) number of key medications and their names
(3) purpose of each medication
(4) major side effects for each medication
In addition the patient can be asked about:
(5) the treatment plan
(6) appropriateness of beliefs and expectations (vs any that may be inappropriate)
(7) adequacy of written instructions
The authors found that less than half of the patients studied gave adequate responses to these questions. A patient should be queried about the discharge instructions prior to leaving the hospital and educated when appropriate.
