Safewards intervention refresher Discharge messages

Background 

•	People may be admitted in a state of depression and hopelessness 
•	Feelings may be masked with anger and resentment toward the staff and the hospital

•	Discharge messages provides a way of helping people regain hope and gain a sense of purpose by:
–	 expressing care and concern
–	attending to them and listening to their concerns

Aims
When a patient is preparing to leave, there is an opportunity for them to provide a discharge message as a form of closure for themselves and to help others on the ward.

Aims:
•	Provide authentic encouragement and support for new patients
•	Provide hope and convey authoritative messages about the purpose and benefits of an admission
•	Provide a boost to self-esteem on leaving the ward through making a valued public contribution
Task: Our discharge messages
Have you seen other patients reading these messages?
How did you use these messages in your practice?

Task: Processes in place for discharge messages
What processes are in place for this intervention during:
•	Admission? 
•	patient orientation?
•	hospital stay?
•	preparing for discharge?
•	staff orientation?
Task: When discharge messages are not quite discharge messages
Paste in some examples here from your ward
Discharge messages – long-term implementation 
You could consider:
•	varying the display type 
•	changing the location of the discharge messages
•	taking the display down for a short period and refreshing the intervention with a relaunch
Discharge messages fidelity
•	A way of highlighting how good the ward and staff are to visitors
•	Soliciting compliments from patients leaving the ward to make the staff feel good

Discharge messages adjustments
CAMHS	None
Forensic	Goodbye messages, transfer messages
Older people	None in some cases, impossible in others