Effectiveness of discharge-planning on physical quality of life of patients with ischemic heart disease

BACKGROUND AND AIM: One of the goals of health care team is to improve the quality of life of patients during and after hospitalization period. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of performing discharge planning on ischemic heart disease patient's physical quality of life. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 74 ischemic heart disease patients which randomly allocated to discharge-planning group (n = 37) and usual care group (n = 37). The discharge-planning included the patients’ educational needs, self-care instructions for patients, and caregivers. This program was performed through supporting patients during hospitalization and after discharge. The physical aspect of quality of life was assessed by standard questionnaire Short Form 36 and the data were analyzed through Mann–Whitney, independent t-test, variance analysis, Friedman and Wilcoxon. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between intervention and control groups in physical aspects of the quality of life before intervention (P = 0.423) while two groups were significantly different after intervention (P = 0.000) and quality of life of patients in the case group improved significantly. CONCLUSION: Applying the discharge-planning program as an effective, efficient, cost-effective, and noninvasive intervention on physical aspects of the quality of ischemic heart disease patients’ lives is useful and helpful. Hence, it is recommended to use this program to promote and improve the quality of ischemic heart disease patients’ lives.