Development and Implementation of Discharge Planning Service in Roozbeh Hospital

Objectives Discharge Planning is a dynamic, collaborative and comprehensive process which is aimed to promote the continuity of care after discharge and providing necessary services and support to the client and his/her caregivers. Recently, the efficacy of discharge planning has been shown in multiple studies on factors like re-admission, treatment adherence, length of stay, treatment costs, symptoms resolution and patients’ quality of life.
Methods We used an evidence-based service development model which contained five steps, including needs assessment, situation analysis, cost-effectiveness evaluation, prioritization and structural design.
Results Needs assessment studies and situation analysis showed that Roozbeh Hospital had some deficits in adherence to outpatient visit and length of stay indices. In the next step, prioritization among possible interventions and designing the structure and details of this service in Roozbeh Hospital performed based on the principles mentioned in the literature, needs of the center and feasibility of services, and finally a comprehensive, collaborative and continuous program designed which includes some steps which are patient data registration, needs assessment, coordinating services and checklists of the affairs.
Conclusion Development and implementation of the discharge planning service has been performed as the first one in Iran, in Roozbeh Hospital and requires to be evaluated and revised continuously, and we hope that this program be prominent to other psychiatric inpatient centers and also higher order mental health organizations.