Discharge Instructions in the Outpatient Setting: Nursing Considerations

More and more patients are receiving increasingly sophisticated medical and nursing care in the outpatient or ambulatory setting. Indeed, patients now accept the idea of going home only hours after surgery, or following other therapeutic and/or diagnostic procedures and interventions. This has come to be and remains the health care delivery norm where there is a demand for greater efficiencies and cost containment. As such, the content and delivery of discharge instructions that outpatients receive from nursing staff is more important than ever. This article will pose and answer some critical questions relative to a nurse's understanding and delivery of effective discharge instructions in the outpatient setting.