[Nursing care program upon hospital admission and discharge].

This is a descriptive, five-year retrospective study intended at describing the work performed by two nurses in a surgical unit of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, related to the Patients Admission and Discharge Preparation Program, where 2,588 patients were admitted from 1999 to 2003. The experience of this Program has been successful because, upon the admission, the nurse provides the patient with all the essential information regarding the hospitalization. In addition, the nurse develops the Nursing Process that comprises the individual care and the resulting preparation for the hospital discharge.