Patient’s perception of their readiness for discharge following hip fracture surgery

Abstract Background Hip fractures are one of the most serious injuries due to a fall (approximately 2800 hospital admissions each year); 80% are over 75years of age; their length of hospital stay is 18days; less than one-third go directly home after their hospital treatment. The impact of a hip fracture cannot be underestimated in terms of lifelong implications particularly in older people. Aim To examine patient's perception of their readiness for discharge post hip fracture and to establish whether relationships existed between patient's perception of their readiness for discharge and demographic variables such as age, gender and social circumstances. Methods The research design used was quantitative, descriptive and correlational. Questionnaires were disseminated to 50 patients who had received hip fracture surgery in one hospital in the South-East of Ireland. The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS) by Weiss and Piacentine (2006) was used to measure perception of readiness and comparisons between the demographic variables and the RHDS scale were explored. Results Hip fracture patients have a lower perception of readiness than other medical-surgical groups. The mean perception of readiness for discharge of hip fracture patients was 6.677 (SD 0.123) compared to medical-surgical patients 8.1 (SD 1.3) (Weiss et al., 2007). Conclusions Improvements in the discharge preparation of hip fracture patients and nursing knowledge is needed so that patients feel adequately prepared for discharge and what comes next. Post discharge outcomes of patients post hip fracture surgery is an important area for research and practice development.