Valuing Patient Feedback: A discharge phone call practice in an inpatient psychiatric hospital

Purpose:
Discharge phones calls increase patient satisfaction and provide vital information to improve quality of care. The calls serve as a safety net for patients transitioning from hospital to home. Feedback received is a very powerful means by which nursing leadership can make changes in practice.

Significance:
Patient satisfaction is recognized as an important indicator of quality care. Feedback from patients regarding care can be helpful in improving processes and making changes to enhance care delivery.

Strategy and Implementation:
In an effort to embrace the recovery oriented principles in nursing care delivery an inpatient psychaitric hospital recognized that psychiatric patients are able and capable to reliably report satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their hospital experience. In order to improve satisfaction and nursing care, nursing leadership implemented the practice of conducting discharge phone calls to all patients by a registered nurse. Patients appreciated the contact and ability to ask questions or seek clarification after hospitalization. Not all patients were able to be contacted but those who received a discharge phone call reported much higher satisfaction in a later survey. Nurses were also able to intervene to address concerns ranging from simple support to crisis management of potential medical or psychiatric emergencies. Patient's verbalized feeling grateful knowing that the hospital cared enough to check on them.

Evaluation:
Discharge phones calls resulted in increased patient satisfaction as evidenced by survey scores from a nationally approved vendor. The post discharge calls enabled nursing to address and resolve potential problems which was demonstrated in the responses to the discharge phone call questionnaire.

Implications for Practice:
Discharge phone calls aid in clarification of discharge instructions and/or address patient safety concerns post discharge. The feedback of the call enables the nursing leadership to examine and change existing practices.