A kinder hospital discharge

The problem

Patients were discharged with a stack of paper and a rushed conversation. Many were readmitted within a month because of medicines they did not understand.

What needed to be done

Redesign discharge so patients and families understand what to do, who to call and when.

How the right problem was found

I interviewed 18 patients and relatives and shadowed nurses through a full discharge. The paperwork described the hospital process, not the patient’s next week. We replaced it with a one-page plan in plain language and added a follow-up call two days after discharge.

The outcome, measured

Patients felt better prepared, and the ward tracked fewer medicine-related readmissions.

18

Patients and relatives interviewed

-17%

Medicine-related readmissions (30 days)

58% → 91%

Patients who said they knew who to call

Skills and tools