Pediatric Dismissal Protocol to Aid the Transition from Hospital Care to Home Care

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Abstract
The effectiveness of a written Home Instruction Sheet was studied for increase of knowledge and follow‐through of home instructions. Verbal home instructions were given to 34 parents of children being dismissed from a pediatric unit. In addition, a written Home Instruction Sheet was given to 33 parents. The instruction sheet contained five categories of instructions: physician's visit, diet, activity, medication regime, and special instructions. After four days the parents were interviewed with a follow‐up phone call questionnaire. The responses of the parents who received the written Home Instruction Sheet were significantly more accurate in three of five major categories of questions: that is, physician's visit, diet instructions, and special instructions (p <.05). Knowledge in the category of activity instructions approached significance at a level of.06. Knowledge in medication regimes was not significant.In the categories of physician's visit and diet instructions, there was a significantly greater level of positive responses for follow‐through of home instructions from the parents who received the written Home Instruction Sheet than from those parents who received verbal instructions. The responses to the follow‐through of home care demonstrated no significant difference in three of the five categories: activity instructions, medication regime, and special instructions. These findings suggest that written home instructions can assist parents/families in their accuracy of knowledge and follow‐through of home instructions.