Abstract: Objective: To explore the role and effect of setting up nurse positions in discharge planning. Methods: We set up a post of discharge planning nurse in our hospital with clarified entry qualifications, incentive policies and standards for assessment and promotion. Nurses enrolled were given standardized training and had started to work in discharge planning since March 2020. Results: From March 2020 to November 2021, discharge planning nurses had participated in the formulation of 10 workflows, revision of 12 items of standard operating procedures, defect analysis and improvement of 38 business processes. A total of 745 cases were eligible according to the acceptance criteria, of which 280 were included and offered discharge planning service with 230 cases being closed. Of all the subjects qualified, 700 cases received telephone follow-up and 26 cases home visits with the high-risk screening coverage and accuracy reaching 100.0% and 97.2%, respectively. Besides, 96.0% of the subjects showed awareness to health education and 99.0% were satisfied with the discharge planning service. All the subjects' discharge planning records were full with a 100.0% complete discharge referral case tracking. When compared with those patients not included, patients enrolled demonstrated shorter hospital stay and less unplanned emergency visits within 24 hours of discharge and unplanned hospital admission within 72 hours of discharge with the differences being statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The establishment, management and implementation of nurse positions for discharge planning have played an important role in the process of discharge planning, which provides not only continuous nursing services for patients, but also broadens the working scope of nurses and offers reference for further improving the training of discharge planning nurses in the future.

Key words: discharge planning; nursing management; in-service training; nurse's role; clinical nursing research