Nurse-facilitated discharge for children and their families.

Abstract

This article explores the introduction of nurse-facilitated discharge in one children's day care unit. It highlights how a need for change to the discharge procedure was established and how the practice was developed, successfully introduced and subsequently reviewed. The author concludes that the process has improved patients' experience with families no longer waiting hours for a consultant to discharge them. It has relieved bed pressures and empowered staff to extend the process to inpatient children's wards.