Background and aim: Grafting coronary arteries and post operative recovery has many challenges, which can be ameliorated through continues care and an appropriate discharge plan. Therefore, the current study was undertaken aiming to evaluate the impact of discharge plan on satisfaction with nursing care, ability to self-care, and incidence of re-admission.
Method: This is a quasi experimental study involving patients who were due to undergo coronary artery bypass graft in Chamran Hospital in 2010. In the intervention group, the discharge plan was initiated at the time of admission and continued for 2 weeks after discharge by home visit and telephone follow ups. Satisfaction with nursing care was assessed 2 days after discharge, whilst patients' ability for self-care was measured 6 weeks and 3 months post discharge and the incidence of re-admission was determined at the 3 months point.
Findings: Satisfaction levels with nursing care and the ability to take self-care were higher in intervention group comparing with control group (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference for self-care ability between pre test and post test in both groups but the improvement was more pronounced for the intervention group (p = 0.04). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of re-admission incidence after 3 months (p = 0.15).
Discussion and conclusion: The results indicate that the discharge plan, as a method of continual care plan, can lead to higher satisfaction levels and enhanced self-care abilities of patients. Such discharge plan can therefore be utilised as an effective method of continuous care for patients who are going to undergo coronary artery bypass graft.