Service Plan Brief: Digitally Recorded Discharge Education

Service Plan Brief for the Implementation of Digitally Recorded Discharge Education on the Postpartum Unit Service Idea As nursing students, we are taught that discharge planning and teaching begins with patient admission. We learn very quickly, in practice, that patients face numerous obstacles to comprehending discharge teaching and providing self-care once they leave the confines of the medical facility. These obstacles may put more patients at higher risk for readmission. It is imperative that medical facilities constantly reevaluate their processes and procedures related to patient discharge education to improve patient health outcomes and decrease adverse events / readmission rates. Specific to the postpartum patient, one-on-one engagement with the nurse in the discussion of postpartum care may be overshadowed by the excitement of the birth of a newborn, exhaustion due to caring for the newborn, frequent visitor interruptions, medications that may decrease patient comprehension, or poor communication between the nurse and patient. Taking these obstacles into consideration is cause for a re-engineering of the discharge teaching methods on the postpartum unit. Various methods and tools to deliver postpartum discharge instructions have enhanced the quality of instructions and been shown to increase patient satisfaction (Wagner & Washington, 2016). This service plan discusses implementing digitally recorded education material and discharge instructions that can be displayed on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) programming channel in the patient room and is also accessible online following the patient’s discharge. This will enable the postpartum patient and her support person to view self-care instructions at a time that is most convenient. This method provides consistency across the unit and encourages open dialogue between the patient and the nurse. Viewing the media at a convenient time provides the PAGE 2 Service Plan Brief: Digitally Recorded Discharge Education patient with the opportunity to process the information being presented allowing her to formulate questions during her hospitalization, prior to discharge. Market Analysis Performance of a market analysis reveals the stakeholders and contributors in the service implementation. The target population includes the postpartum patients and their caretakers. For the service plan to be successful, it will require the support of specific referral bases that include obstetricians, pediatricians, hospital administrators, hospital educators, childbirth course instructors, and previous patients. There are no significant competitors apart from the current use of the CCTV programming which includes dissemination of important facility information. • Target population: Postpartum patients and support person • Potential Referral Bases: Obstetricians, Pediatricians, Hospital Administrators, Hospital Educators, Childbirth Course Instructors • Potential Competitors: Hospital use of CCTV – Dissemination of facility information SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis was performed using an interprofessional approach with the following results. There are four internal factors that are potential strengths of the service idea. Patients can view the self-care discharge CCTV programming at their leisure and when it is most convenient. Patients may choose to view the education material in between feedings, or when the newborn is in the nursery. The information presented is designed and developed by leaders on the postpartum unit and provides consistency of information passed on to all patients, so there are no discrepancies. Also, the information presented reinforces the education that the patient receives from the nursing staff. There are four internal factors that are potential weaknesses of the service idea. The videos are not personalized to the individual patient. The CCTV video programming does not account PAGE 3 Service Plan Brief: Digitally Recorded Discharge Education for variations in diversity, education level, or language barrier. There may be members of this patient population that are not comfortable with technology. Some patients may not have accessibility to the educational media from home following discharge. This service program will require leadership and staff support to be successful. Hospital staff must inform patients that they have access to the information and take time to show them how to utilize the new digital resource. There are four external factors that are potential opportunities for the service idea. Patients are becoming more comfortable with digital media and may be more inclined to prefer educational material through a technology-based method. Currently, there is no significant competition for the delivery of this discharge education method other than the organization using this avenue to disseminate pertinent facility information. An opportunity to advance the implementation of this service plan includes taking advantage of support from hospital leadership. There is also plenty of opportunity for expansion of this service plan to include labor, delivery, and newborn teaching