Factors influencing practices among ward nurses that support ongoing independent community living after discharge: a cross-sectional study

Background:It is not clear which personal factors and experiences affect ward nurses’ practice in supporting patients to return home after discharge.Aims: To explore the practices among ward nurses that help them support patients to continue to live independently in the community; and the influence on these of personal experience of providing home care, approaches to discharge planning, and understanding about patients after discharge.Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: The study included 178 ward nurses in three hospitals. We used a t-test to analyze differences in ward nursing practices focusing on community living by nurses’ characteristics, experience in providing home-based care, discharge planning approaches, and understanding of patient situations after discharge, and a stepwise multi-regression analysis with ward nursing practices focusing on community living as the dependent variable.Results: Respondents included 167 female and 11 male nurses, with 34.8% in their 40s. Their mean length of nurs...