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 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.

OBJECTIVE: To establish an interference mode of group counseling for diabetic patients with depression and to evaluate the effectiveness of this mode on depression, treatment compliance and blood sugar level in the patients.
 METHODS: One hundred diabetic patients with depression were randomly divided into a counseling group and a control group (n=50 per group). Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) was applied to all the patients. The interference mode of group counseling was established through literature review, expert consultation or interview. The counseling group received counseling for 8 times within 2 months.
 RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the SDS scores at 0, 3, 6 or 12 months after the intervention between the 2 groups (P<0.001). For the counseling group, there was a significant difference in the SDS scores between pre-intervention and 3, 6 or 12 months after intervention (P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the SDS scores between any two time points after the intervention (P>0.05). There was a significant difference in the compliance between any two time points after the intervention (P<0.05). Fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2 h postprandial blood glucose (2hPG) or glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was significantly different at any two time points after the intervention (P<0.05).
 CONCLUSION Group counseling can improve depression, compliance and blood sugar control in the diabetic patients.
Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Counseling ; Depression ; therapy ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; psychology ; therapy ; Glycated Hemoglobin A ; analysis ; Humans ; Patient Compliance ; Psychotherapy, Group