The quality of the discharge planning process: the effect of a liaison nurse.

A project employing a liaison nurse has been started in the Dutch Zaandam region. The liaison project will focus on the experience of problems in preparing for hospital discharge and on continuity between hospital and home care. This article discusses the effect of the liaison nurse on the quality of the discharge planning process. The investigation included a pre-test and a main test for which data were collected using questionnaires. These were sent to patients who had received after-care on being discharged from hospital. To measure the quality of the discharge process and after-care continuity, use was made of explicit quality criteria, targeting discharge planning. The results show that discharge planning in hospitals has improved. No significant improvement was detected with respect to continuity of care. It may be concluded that the discharge process requires more attention. The quality criteria used here could function as points of departure.