An exploration of the barriers that influence the patient discharge experience : a multidisciplinary team perspective

![CDATA[BACKGROUND The research provides an example of nurses taking the lead to facilitate and conduct quality improvement research as indicated by Flynn et al. (2017). The impetus for the research came from the study hospital’s Press Ganey Patient Experience Surveys which demonstrated a decline in patient satisfaction with the discharge planning process, predominantly linked to; (i) instructions regarding care at home (ii) help arranging home care services and (iii) preparation for discharge throughout patients stay. The research is based on the premise that the multidisciplinary team coordinate, collaborate and communicate effectively to address as many aspects of care as possible to provide the best discharge experience for patients. The circumstances of patients can change at any time so flexibility of the multidisciplinary team when approaching patients care is vital. Previous research suggests the discharge experience of patients is impacted negatively when the multidisciplinary team fail to collaborate effectively to meet their discharge planning needs. AIM The aim of this research is to understand the factors that impact the multidisciplinary team working collaboratively in a private hospital to proactively streamline patient’s discharge.]]