Creating a better discharge summary: Improvement in quality and timeliness using an electronic discharge summary

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. O'Leary ◽  
David M. Liebovitz ◽  
Joseph Feinglass ◽  
David T. Liss ◽  
Daniel B. Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary

scholarly journals Using an electronic discharge notification system reduces the time delay between discharge and a summary being sent to the GP

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S169-S169
Author(s):  
Alex Adams ◽  
Bodvar Ymisson ◽  
Virginia Davies
Keyword(s):  
Time Delay ◽  
Safety Issue ◽  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Baseline Survey ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Notification System ◽  
Team Meetings ◽  
Patient Safety Issue ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary

AimsAll patients discharged from our Paediatric Liaison Team will have an electronic discharge summary sent to their GP within 24 hours by January 2020.BackgroundWriting a GP discharge summary is an essential part of patient care and is a patient safety issue if not completed on time. The NHS England Standard Contract states discharge summaries should be completed and sent to a GP within 24 hours of discharge. Baseline data showed our median time between discharge and a GP summary being sent off as 3 days and a baseline survey of staff in our team rated our discharge summary process as inefficient and time consuming. At baseline our discharge summary was typed on a word document which was then emailed to admin staff who would print and post to the GP. Our electronic patient record had an inbuilt discharge notification function that generates and sends summaries via email to the GP that other teams in the trust were already using.MethodWe utilised the Model for Improvement Quality Improvement methodology. Initially we created a driver diagram breaking the process of discharge summary writing into its constituent components to generate change ideas. We then tested out these out in plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles whilst continually collecting data using a shared team spreadsheet to monitor for change.ResultWe found that switching to electronically sent discharge notifications improved our time from discharge to a summary being sent to the GP from a median of 3 days to 1 day. We noticed that alongside a shared team spreadsheet monitoring when summaries were written we also reduced variation of time between discharge and a summary from a range of 0-27 days (with an outlier of 161) to 0-9 days.ConclusionOn average the time from discharge to a summary being written met the standard and we reduced the variability of time delay by using an electronic notification. However only 56% of summaries were sent within the 24 hour limit. Key factors for continued variability identified during regular team meetings included overall caseload of patients, amount of staff on shift and technical issues with the form. Our plan for sustainability is to discuss monthly in the team meeting any discharges that took longer than 1 day and target further PDSA cycles to these issues.

scholarly journals Outpatient physicians' satisfaction with discharge summaries and perceived need for an electronic discharge summary

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 317-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. O'Leary ◽  
David M. Liebovitz ◽  
Joseph Feinglass ◽  
David T. Liss ◽  
David W. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary ◽  
Discharge Summaries

scholarly journals ELECTRONIC DISCHARGE SUMMARY DRIVING ADVICE: CURRENT PRACTICE AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

2013 ◽  
Vol 06 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Carmody ◽  
Michael Carey ◽  
Victoria Traynor ◽  
Don Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Current Practice ◽  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary

10 Improving Communication About Death Between Primary and Secondary Care: A Quality Improvement Project

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i1-i8
Author(s):  
J Arumugam ◽  
R Laud ◽  
P Naydenova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Quality Improvement Project ◽  
Junior Doctors ◽  
Improvement Project ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Discharge Letter ◽  
Death Notification ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary ◽  
Hospital Teams

Abstract Introduction Communication between the hospital and primary care regarding the death of a patient is incredibly important. Previous literature surrounding this area has shown that it is often done poorly, resulting in substandard documentation. Furthermore, lack of information for General Practitioners (GPs) means it is difficult for them to enter discussions with families, which can negatively impact on the bereavement process. The previous expectation was that an electronic discharge summary was completed, but that this was not optimally designed to inform GPs about the circumstances surrounding the death. Reasons given that summaries were not completed included: the busy workload of junior doctors and the lack of awareness of their importance. Methods The aim of our quality improvement project was to ensure 80% of GPs received notification and information about a patient’s death by August 2018. Following an initial cycle to assess the baseline notification rates, we developed a standardized death notification letter following feedback from local GPs. This included information such as date of death, if the coroner had been informed and a brief summary of events. Following introduction of the letter, we recorded the uptake and then gained further feedback regarding the ways in which it could be improved. A final cycle was then implemented. Results Baseline data showed an electronic discharge letter was only being completed in 13.3% of cases (n=3/21). Following introduction of the new letter, 83.6% were completed (n=56/67). Conclusions In conclusion, the introduction of a simple and standardized letter template has vastly increased the notification of GPs about a patient’s death from our hospital. Limitations of our project included the varying numbers of deaths in audited periods and some hospital teams having a separate process in place.

scholarly journals Addressing the business of discharge: Building a case for an electronic discharge summary

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Mourad ◽  
Russell Cucina ◽  
Rajiv Ramanathan ◽  
Arpana R. Vidyarthi
Keyword(s):  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary

scholarly journals Semantic-Web Architecture for Electronic Discharge Summary Based on OWL 2.0 Standard

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 182
Author(s):  
Shahram Tahmasebian ◽  
Mostafa Langarizadeh ◽  
Marjan Ghazisaeidi ◽  
and Safdari
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
Discharge Summary ◽  
Web Architecture ◽  
Electronic Discharge Summary
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