This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Rothschild and colleagues¹ admirably explored the topic of preventable injuries in elderly patients. Discharge planning may be fraught with more potential hazards than appear at first glance. For instance, the medication instruction sheets that are given to patients upon discharge are often written in small print, making them difficult, if not impossible, for the visually impaired patient to read. Additionally, instructions are frequently mistakenly written with medical abbreviations that a patient cannot comprehend. These issues can result in avoidable readmissions due to inappropriate use of medications. It might be useful for individual hospitals to study their discharge planning protocols and readmission rates and causes to see if modifications are advisable in these areas to ensure greater patient safety and compliance.

Another discharge issue that merits greater scrutiny is the patient's disposition upon discharge. Although sometimes obvious, the decision to discharge a patient home or to a nursing facility often requires . . . [Full Text of this Article]