Factors Correlating with the Application of the Discharge Planning Process of Professional Nurses-ปัจจัยที่มีความสัมพันธ์กับการปฏิบัติตาม กระบวนการวางแผนจำหน่ายผู้ป่วยของพยาบาลวิชาชีพ

Abstract

             The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to determine the factors that correlated with the discharge planning process of professional nurses. The subjects were 269 professional nurses leaving out the head of the hospital ward in Sappasittiprasong hospital, Changwat Ubon Ratchathani. The questionnaire was composed of 5 parts: 1) general data 2) perception of roles 3) policy support factors, management and evaluation, 4) the application of the discharge planning process, and 5) barriers of application of the discharge planning process. Data was collected in October 2006. Descriptive statistics and Pearsons’ correlation were used to analyze the data.
             The average age of the subjects was 33.55 years. Their average working experience span was 7.74 years. Eighty percent of the nurses had training experience on discharge planning. The average number of nurses on duty in the hospital ward per day was 9.67. Occupation rate of the hospital was
about 98 percent. The factors that positively correlated with the application of the discharge planning process with statistical significance were 1) perception of roles (r = 0.147, p = 0.016), 2) policy support factors, management and evaluation (r = 0.394, p < 0.001; r = 0.416, p < 0.001; r = 0.430, p
< 0.001 respectively). The factor that negatively correlated with the application of the discharge planning process with statistical significance was the bed occupation rate (r = -0.164, p = 0.007). Factors which did not correlate with the application of the discharge planning process included working experience, training experience on discharge, number of nurses on duty and the perception
of problem assessment, problem diagnosis, discharge planning and evaluation.
        The results of this study would be beneficial to administrators of the hospital in managing the most related factors to increase discharge planning activities such as policy support factor and management
evaluation.

Key words: discharge planning process, professional nurses