discharge planning is defined as a dynamic , flexible , comprehensive , and collaborative process that should be started at the time of admission and its aim is to identify the client 's plans and needs to support them after existing from psychiatric unit . literature review demonstrated that discharge planning based on general principles ( evidence - based principles ) should be applied during psychiatric discharge planning to make this discharge more effective . also , depending on literature review , it could be concluded that effective discharge planning includes main three stages initial discharge meeting , regular discharge meeting(s ) , and leaving from hospital and discharge day . each stage of them has requirements that should be accomplished to go to the next stage . the length of time between the first stage and the final stage of discharge planning depends upon the progress of the clients . this means that the second stage of regular meeting may need more than one meeting based on patient progress . discharge planning will form part of the assessment and care planning process with a patient on admission to an inpatient unit.care teams , in collaboration with the patient and their carer 's ( mostly the family ) , will formulate a discharge care plan and risk and relapse plan relating to the specific needs of the individual.planning for discharge should begin as soon as possible following admission in order that a comprehensive treatment and discharge plan can be formulated.the patient and carer , should be fully involved in all aspects of the discharge plan , where practicable . arrangements for discharge should be negotiated with everyone likely to be concerned with the patient 's aftercare.every patient in hospital should be reviewed prior to planed discharge , in order to determine what level of aftercare will be necessary to enable him or her to live safely in the community . when the discharge plan has been agreed with the patient , carer , and all care team parties will receive a copy of the discharge care plan.the provisional discharge date should be negotiated between the multidisciplinary team and the client ( and where appropriate the client 's relatives / carers ) . it is important that the provisional discharge date is identified far enough in advance to permit necessary arrangements to be made and required meetings to take place.documentation of discharge planning will include completed discharge instructions with patient name and signature , documentation of the patients cognitive intactness , and documentation that the patient understand and agrees with the discharge plan , including medications and follow - up care . discharge planning will form part of the assessment and care planning process with a patient on admission to an inpatient unit . care teams , in collaboration with the patient and their carer 's ( mostly the family ) , will formulate a discharge care plan and risk and relapse plan relating to the specific needs of the individual . planning for discharge should begin as soon as possible following admission in order that a comprehensive treatment and discharge plan can be formulated . the patient and carer , should be fully involved in all aspects of the discharge plan , where practicable . arrangements for discharge should be negotiated with everyone likely to be concerned with the patient 's aftercare . every patient in hospital should be reviewed prior to planed discharge , in order to determine what level of aftercare will be necessary to enable him or her to live safely in the community .   when the discharge plan has been agreed with the patient , carer , and all care team parties will receive a copy of the discharge care plan . the provisional discharge date should be negotiated between the multidisciplinary team and the client ( and where appropriate the client 's relatives / carers ) . it is important that the provisional discharge date is identified far enough in advance to permit necessary arrangements to be made and required meetings to take place . documentation of discharge planning will include completed discharge instructions with patient name and signature , documentation of the patients cognitive intactness , and documentation that the patient understand and agrees with the discharge plan , including medications and follow - up care . discharge planning should begin as soon as possible , but preferably no later than the second ward round ( multidisciplinary meeting).the initial and subsequent meetings at which discharge is being planned should be attended by psychiatric , client , and carer.the length of time between the initial discharge planning meeting and the final discharge planning meeting will be dependent upon the progress of the patient.multidisciplinary team should maintain regular contact with each other concerning the patient 's progress . an appropriate date for a final discharge meeting should be jointly agreed as soon as possible . discharge planning should begin as soon as possible , but preferably no later than the second ward round ( multidisciplinary meeting ) . the initial and subsequent meetings at which discharge is being planned should be attended by psychiatric , client , and carer . the length of time between the initial discharge planning meeting and the final discharge planning meeting will be dependent upon the progress of the patient . an appropriate date for a final discharge meeting should be jointly agreed as soon as possible . the treating physician is responsible for determining clinical stability for discharge and identifying posthospitalization medical needs.a social worker will conduct a social services needs assessment for homeless inpatients.discharge planning meetings must include an appropriate nursing care plane and discharge plane ( see tables 1 , 2 and 3 ; an applicable care plane and discharge plane format).the discharge planning checklist ( see tables 1 , 2 and 3 ; an applicable discharge planning checklist ) should be used at this meeting as guidance . the treating physician is responsible for determining clinical stability for discharge and identifying posthospitalization medical needs . discharge planning meetings must include an appropriate nursing care plane and discharge plane ( see tables 1 , 2 and 3 ; an applicable care plane and discharge plane format ) . the discharge planning checklist ( see tables 1 , 2 and 3 ; an applicable discharge planning checklist ) should be used at this meeting as guidance . leave from hospital should be planned through the ward round ( multidisciplinary meetings ) in consultation with community staff after discussion with patient and carers , where appropriate.if , on the day of discharge , the patient is considered by nursing staff to be fit to leave hospital.for patients who are leaving the hospital the discharge checklist should be used to ensure that all identified requirements relating to the day of discharge should be completed . a copy of discharge checklist and care plan the discharge checklist will provide a framework for considering the practicalities of a patient going on leave.psychiatric nurse communicates to the client that he is being discharged and ensures they have a copy of the care plan . assigned nurse also ensure that the client understands their after care arrangements and this process . the assigned nurse gives the client the discharge medication , ensures that the client understands the medication regime , and knows how to obtain the next prescription . leave from hospital should be planned through the ward round ( multidisciplinary meetings ) in consultation with community staff after discussion with patient and carers , where appropriate . if , on the day of discharge , the patient is considered by nursing staff to be fit to leave hospital . for patients who are leaving the hospital the discharge checklist should be used to ensure that all identified requirements relating to the day of discharge should be completed . a copy of discharge checklist and care plan the discharge checklist will provide a framework for considering the practicalities of a patient going on leave . psychiatric nurse communicates to the client that he is being discharged and ensures they have a copy of the care plan . assigned nurse also ensure that the client understands their after care arrangements and this process . the assigned nurse gives the client the discharge medication , ensures that the client understands the medication regime , and knows how to obtain the next prescription . the assigned nurse gives the client the discharge medication , ensures that the client understands the medication regime , and knows how to obtain the next prescription . in this semester , the main goal was to develop evidence - based guidelines could be applied in the national center of psychiatric health . the topic of discharge planning was chosen to be under study based on significance of discharge planning in psychiatric field . discharge planning is the best solution to rapid psychiatric clients discharge , decrease institution based , and decrease governments cost . this literature review was conducted systematically and comprehensively and based on research site of pub med , medline , cinahl , and science direct . the search was also conducted for clinical practice guidelines based on different levels of evidence such as systematic reviews and meta - analyses ; randomized controlled trials ; controlled trials , cohort or case - control analytic studies ; case series : post test only , pretest / posttest ; expert opinion including literature / narrative reviews , consensus statements , descriptive studies , and individual case studies . to evaluate the application of these guidelines , the scale of psychiatric recovery was used . application of discharge planning in the national center of psychiatric health was encountered with barriers . these barriers as insufficient clinical days per week that being on shift one or two times per week not enough to follow clients ' progress , also most client discharge on sunday and this day we are in university for lectures , so the third stage of discharge planning ( leaving from hospital and discharge day ) was not applied mostly , also some clients were discharged during the second stage of regular meeting . generally , full discharge planning was applied on three clients and psychiatric recovery scale was measured for them before and after . the result demonstrated an improvement in discharge process but three clients are insufficient to generalize the result .
background . 
 integration of research evidence into clinical nursing practice is essential for the delivery of high - quality nursing care . 
 discharge planning is an essential process in psychiatric nursing field , in order to prevent recurrent readmission to psychiatric units . 
 objective . 
 the purpose of this paper is to perform literature overview on psychiatric discharge planning , in order to develop evidence - based practice guideline of psychiatric discharge plan 
 . methods . a search of electronic databases was conducted . 
 the search process aimed to locate different levels of evidence . 
 inclusion criteria were studies including outcomes related to prevention of readmission as stability in the community , studies investigating the discharge planning process in acute psychiatric wards , and studies that included factors that impede discharge planning and factors that aid timely discharge . on the other hand , 
 exclusion criteria were studies in which discharge planning was discussed as part of a multi faceted intervention and was not the main focus of the review . result . 
 studies met inclusion criteria were mainly literature reviews , consensus statements , and descriptive studies . 
 all of these studies are considered at the lower levels of evidence . 
 conclusion . 
 this review demonstrated that discharge planning based on general principles ( evidence based principles ) should be applied during psychiatric discharge planning to make this discharge more effective . 
 depending on this review , it could be concluded that effective discharge planning includes main three stages ; initial discharge meeting , regular discharge meeting(s ) , and leaving from hospital and discharge day . 
 each stage of them has requirements should be accomplished be go to the next stage .