Background: Today laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard treatment
of gall bladder diseases all over the world. Patients undergoing laparoscopic
cholecystectomy must be the focus when planning a hospital discharge process by
giving them effective practical discharge guidelines that will increase their confidence
in managing their care at home, so that, Aim: of the present study was to develop
discharge guidelines for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Design: A
descriptive exploratory design was utilized in this study. Setting: The study was
conducted at the surgical departments and out patients` clinics of
GastroenterologyCenter at MansouraUniversity. Sample: A purposive sample of 200
adult patients, from both genders underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy from the
above mentioned setting within 6 months. Tools for data collection: 1) A structure
interviewing questionnaire sheet to assess patients` knowledge. 2) An observational
checklist to assess patients' practices at pre / postoperative period.3) Health condition
assessment sheet to assess patients` health condition on 1st follow up visit at out
Patient's clinic. Results: The mean age of the studied patients was 43.25 ± 11.01. More
than half (62.0%) of studied patients had unsatisfactory level of knowledge as regards
laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery as (pre/post-operative care and discharge
instructions). Most (90.5%) of them had unsatisfactory level of practices as(pre/postoperative practices) added to poor health condition assessment for more than half
(60.0%) of the studied sample Conclusion: There was a statistical significant relation
between patients` total knowledge scores and the total practices scores as regards their
socio-demographic characteristics. Moreover, a highly positive correlation was
indicated between patients` knowledge & practices and their health condition
assessment. Recommendations: Further research studies are needed to focus on
studying factors affecting quality of life for patients undergoing laparoscopic
cholecystectomy.