Readiness for discharge from hospital is both a state and a process characterised by physical stability and competence to manage self-care at home; adequate support to cope after leaving the hospital; psychological ability to manage the process; and adequate information. The readiness to discharge of patient and care giver after cranial surgeries are studied little and only few studies are available in this area. This cross-sectional survey was done to find out the patients and care givers for discharge from readiness and its predictors. Patients having undergone elective cranial surgeries and their care givers aged 18 and above (176 each) were included for this survey. The data on discharge readiness was collected from patient and care giver of the same patient using validated tool, Readiness for hospital discharge scale - adult form and Readiness for hospital discharge scale, family care giver of adult patient form respectively. Only 40 percent of the patients were ready for discharge at the time of discharge from hospital while more than 75 percent of care givers were ready for their patients to be discharged from hospital at the time of planned discharge from hospital. Bivariate analysis showed that for patients, there is significantly lower level of readiness for discharge among the patients after 50 years of age. Those who have attended college, were unemployed and having good functional status were more ready for discharge. For care givers, education status and occupation were associated with more discharge readiness. Assessing patients preparedness for discharge is an essential component of the discharge planning process. Our findings suggest that the development and implementation of effective discharge preparation programmes with patient and family education and appropriate referrals are prerequisites for readiness for discharge.

Keywords: Neurosurgery nursing, Cranial surgery, Hospital discharge