The concept and significance of readiness for hospital discharge, measuring tools, application status, shortcomings and prospects of readiness for hospital discharge among patients with chronic diseases were reviewed in this article, with attempts to draw more attention to the readiness for hospital discharge among patients with chronic diseases in clinical practice and provide theoretical basis for forming the intervention plan suitable for China.

Objective: To investigate the effects of self-made rehabilitation on lower extremity motor function in patients with stroke hemiplegia. Methods: In total, 60 stroke patients with hemiplegia who were unable to walk, were randomly assigned to the traction training belt plus routine rehabilitation group (experimental group) and routine rehabilitation group (control group),30 cases respectively. There were five outcomes: Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment of the lower extremity(FMA-LE), Kendall method for Manual Muscle Testing(MMT), Berg Balance Scale(BBS), Functional Ambulation Classitication(FAC) and Activity of Daily Living(ADL). Results: For patients on therapy for 12 weeks, the results of both groups were statistically significant (t=-19.185--7.971, P <0.01) . The levels of FMA-LE, BBS and FAC were 29.6 ± 3.7 and 24.9 ± 5.9 (t=3.609, P <0.05) , 31(21, 40) and 22(10, 32)(t=-2.194, P <0.05), 3(3, 4) and 3(2, 3) (t=-2.270, P <0.05) in the test group and the control group, respectively. There was no significant difference in the levels of MMT and ADL (P >0.05). Conclusions The application of traction training belt tested in this study are significant efficacy in rehabilitation effects on lower extremity motor function, muscle strength, balance function and walking ability in stroke patients with hemiplegia, and is worth being promoted.

Objective To understand the hospital discharge readiness and discharge instruction quality in chronic disease patients and to analyze the correlation between them. Methods Totals of 602 chronic disease patients of related departments from 7 ClassⅢGrade A hospitals in Shanghai were selected by convenience sampling. All of them were investigated with the general information questionnaire, Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (RHDS) and Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale (QDTS), and their data were analyzed. Results Among those patients, the scores of hospital discharge readiness and discharge instruction quality were (8.01±1.41) and (8.65±1.29) out of 10 respectively. The score of hospital discharge readiness had a positive correlation with the score of discharge instruction quality with a statistical difference (r=0.507, P＜ 0.01). Conclusions Hospital discharge readiness and discharge instruction quality of chronic disease patients are all in high levels and with a positive correlation. Nurses should enrich the content of discharge instruction to improve the quality of discharge instruction by appropriate instruction skills and to improve the hospital discharge readiness.