The assessment of planned discharges: agreement between BRASS index and clinical judgement

Abstract

The BRASS (Blaylock Risk Assessment Screening Score) index is a risk screening tool for identification of patients at risk of difficult discharge. To assess the agreement of discharge options between the BRASS classification and the nurses' clinical judgement. Consecutive patients admitted to surgical wards of a large Italian hospital from November 2016 to June 2017 were assessed with the BRASS index within 48 hours from admission and 24 hours before discharge. After discharge a group of expert nurses, blind to the BRASS score and patient effective destination, planned the patients' discharge reviewing the clinical records. Patients were classified as needing ordinary discharge, with support or to hospital. The 90% of the 428 included patients remained in the same BRASS risk class; the agreement between BRASS score (K Cohen) at admission and clinical judgement was 0.474 and 0.533 at discharge. Of the 96 subject at need of discharge with support or to hospital, 60 were classified in the same class by the BRASS Index. Factors that impacted on the different classification were patients' age, presence of devices and availability and appropriateness of social support. Most patients remained in the same BRASS class. There is moderate agreement between BRASS index and clinical judgement, specifically for patients at medium/high risk of difficult discharge. Our data confirm the need for including new items in the Brass scale.