| Introduction: In preparation for hospital discharge, anticipatory discharge education is critical for postpartum women. Standard care is that the many nurses who care for postpartum women provide the education, which may contribute to inconsistent and insufficient education. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a designated nurse providing discharge education to increase the postpartum women's perception of readiness for discharge.;Method: Evaluation of 60 postpartum women's readiness for discharge using the Readiness for Discharge Scale tool was conducted comparing 30 women who received standard care and 30 women who received education by a nurse discharge educator. The tool had four subscale categories of personal status, coping ability, knowledge, and expected support.;Results: Findings demonstrate that the nurse discharge educator facilitated a significant increase in knowledge (p<0.00003), coping ability (p<0.00008), and expected support (p=0.00164) subscales of women in the intervention group compared to the control group, while there was no significant change in personal status subscale using Mann-Whitney U tests.;Discussion: Findings of the scholarly project support the role of the nurse discharge educator in positively influencing knowledge, coping ability, and expected support among postpartum women promoting their perceived readiness for discharge. In keeping with the theoretical framework regarding transition associated with the postpartum experience, the nurse discharge educator aids in the transition of these mothers to their new roles and to care for themselves and their newborns. |
