A systematic Knowledge Management model for planning the discharge of hospital patients

the growth in size, complexity and the number of chronic diseases in the NHS. In addition, there is an increase in demand for high quality care, processes and planning. Effective Discharge Planning (DP) requires practitioners to have appropriate, patient personalised and updated knowledge in order to be able to make informed and holistic decisions about a patients’ discharge.
This research examines the role Knowledge Management (KM) plays in planning an effective discharge plan and examines existing ways in which DP is currently carried out, identifies the stakeholders who are involved in the DP process and highlights problem areas requiring further improvement. The research also examines KM models and KM models in healthcare and integrates KM with DP in the form of a KM-based DP model. The development of the model is based on primary research, using the Grounded Theory method on a sample of stakeholders in the DP process in typical NHS hospitals. Through a process of thematic coding to the point of theoretical saturation the primary research builds on the thorough secondary research, applying problem analysis techniques in an innovative way.
The model is intended to highlight the problem areas that require focus and provides a seamless overview allowing healthcare personnel to thoroughly plan the discharge of a patient with the involvement of both patients and carers. By following the guidelines in the model, healthcare personnel, patients and carers will be prompted to identify and implement the relevant factors that make up an effective discharge plan.
The KM-based DP model is validated by the actors involved in planning the discharge (i.e. a sample of healthcare personnel). The doctoral challenge of the research is in the development and validation of an original discharge planning model using an innovative application of the Grounded Theory method. The model has implications for further academic research and for a controlled implementation in practice.