Résumé
A questionnaire was administered to identify differences between the information that ward nurses think should be provided on a discharge summary and the information that outpatient nurses consider is necessary for providing continuing nursing care. Respondents were asked to select from multiple choice answers which information they believe is necessary to provide on a discharge summary and their perceptions about continuing nursing care, and they were also asked to record the reasons for their selections. Multiple choice responses were aggregated by simple tabulation and reasons were aggregated by similarity. The results showed that ward nurses and outpatient nurses had the same perceptions of what information is needed on a discharge summary. However, whereas the outpatient nurses wanted to see specific information about what care should be continued on the discharge summary, the ward nurses considered continuing nursing care to mean sharing summarized information about the patient's hospital course. This difference can be attributed to the unique characteristics of ward nurses and outpatient nurses. To provide continuing nursing care, ward nurses and outpatient nurses should each understand the other's thinking and learn what information the other considers necessary.