Initiating a Post-visit/Discharge Phone Call Program in a High Volume Women and Children's Service

Many journal articles published between 1981 and 2004 report  research findings on the validity and value of hospital staff making discharge phone calls to patients. These research studies were done in a variety of hospital settings and with various types of patients utilizing a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Regardless of the research design and patient population, the findings all support the value of a vibrant post-visit/discharge phone call program. Phone calls made by the professional nursing staff after the patient leaves their unit provide the opportunity to evaluate patient education as well as the chance to identify trends that may require improvement in nursing practice. Lessons learned during these calls have the ability to improve patient quality of care as well as to assess overall impressions of hospital performance.
Holy Cross Hospital Women and Children’s Services designed and initiated a program to train and support the nurses in guided, purposeful post visit/discharge phone calls. Nurses were educated about the rationale and process for making post visit/discharge phone calls. Each unit developed their own guidelines for the format and content of the calls. Each of these guidelines reflected Watson’s carative factors as well as the essential elements of the Quality Caring Model © that serves as the Nursing Division’s professional model of practice. Collectively, the calls were all designed to assess clinical outcomes and to support a professional reward and recognition experience for the nurse. Additionally, the nurses were afforded the chance to express appreciation for the opportunity to be involved in the patient’s care.  Patient satisfaction scores as well as employee satisfaction scores were used to monitor effect of the program. 
•