The Effect of Discharge Planning on Adherence to Treatment in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a common cardiovascular disease. One of the main concerns of health system staff is the non-compliance of these patients in adherence to treatment after discharge from the hospital. Designing and implementing a program to follow up patients after discharge can positively affect their rehabilitation and treatment adherence. This study was performed with aim to investigate the effect of discharge planning on adherence to treatment in patients with ischemic heart disease. This quasi-experimental study was performed with the participation of 70 ischemic heart disease patients hospitalized in Hamadan Cardiovascular Hospital in 2018. Participants were selected by simple random sampling and divided into experimental (n = 35) and control (n = 35) groups using permutation blocks. In the first 24 hours of admission, a researcher-made questionnaire of adherence to treatment was completed by all participants to assess the educational needs. The discharge planning consisted of two stages: before discharge and after discharge from the hospital with telephone follow-up for 2 months. Then adherence to treatment was re-assessed after discharge. Data was analyzed using SPSS software (version 22) by chi-square, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test and paired t-test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups in adherence to treatment (p> 0.05); however, after the discharge planning, adherence to treatment significantly increased in all areas in the experimental group (P <0.001).Implications for Practice: Implementation of discharge planning improves and promotes adherence to treatment in IHD patients.