Educational Handouts For Residents Upon Discharge?

[julie1014]

Good morning! Our LTC facility is trying to better their discharge planning when residents return home by offering them educational handouts regarding their diagnosis, how to manage them at home, etc. An example might be COPD. Just something basic. Also instructional material, such as how to give an insulin injection...etc. We want to make sure that the transition to home runs smoothly. Obviously, this is for our short term rehab patients. Therapy has resident education regarding exercises, etc. But we are looking more for medical diagnosis/resident teaching. Does anyone have this implemented in their nursing home? If so, can you recommend any books/products that have these teaching sheets ready for reproduction? Or, did you start from scratch? I would love to hear what your discharge planning consists of, and any info would be greatly appreciated. This is another job that was given to me in addition to restorative. Thank you in advance! Julie:)

[leslie :-D]

unfortunately our facility didn't have any handouts, for so few people got discharged. for those who did, i would personally write out gen'l instructions relevant to the disease process, their meds (if new) and any md appointments. not all nurses did this however, but it is vitally important to do this.

[Talino]

Rather than collecting voluminous resource materials, obtain specific or relevant articles from the internet instead. During your discharge planning, identify the resident's needs. Surf the net (keep related links in your favorites) then print out just the ones you need.

Most of the sites are geared towards consumers. Just a few...

http://www.healthfinder.gov/library/

http://my.webmd.com/webmd_today/home/default

http://www.safemedication.com/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ > click on "Health"