Digitalized Discharge Planning between Hospitals and Municipal Health Care

Abstract

The use of digitalized collaboration between levels of care is expected to improve coordination in patients' transitions. The aim of this study was to investigate how safe and effective e-messages were regarding discharge planning between hospital nurses and the municipal level of administration. A nationwide survey was conducted among 2 431 Norwegian nurses working in inpatient wards in general hospitals. A majority (86%) of the nurses used e-messages as their main mode of communication with the administration when older patients were discharged. Most nurses (73%) found that e-messages were effective in their collaboration, and that e-messages ensured safe discharge for older patients (65%). More than half of the nurses reported being satisfied with the collaboration with the administration. E-messages supported hospital nurses in their discharge planning for older patients. However, they sometimes needed to use the telephone to exchange additional and more detailed information.