ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2002
Dissemination of discharge summaries. Not reaching follow-up physicians.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Value of Technology to Transfer Discharge Information
A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of an Electronic Discharge Communication Tool for Preventing Death or Hospital Readmission
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review on the effect of the organisation of hospital discharge on patient health outcomes.BMJ open · 2016Pooled it
- The safety implications of missed test results for hospitalised patients: a systematic review.BMJ quality & safety · 2011Pooled it
- Comparing Patients' Opinions on the Hospital Discharge Process Collected With a Self-Reported Questionnaire Completed Via the Internet or Through a Telephone Survey: An Ancillary Study of the SENTIPAT Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Trial
- Hospital variation in quality of discharge summaries for patients hospitalized with heart failure exacerbation.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2015Trial
- The Seamless Transfer-of-Care Protocol: a randomized controlled trial assessing the efficacy of an electronic transfer-of-care communication tool.BMC health services research · 2012Trial
- Impact of automated alerts on follow-up of post-discharge microbiology results: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2012Trial
- Redefining and redesigning hospital discharge to enhance patient care: a randomized controlled study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2008Trial
- Interprofessional and Intraprofessional Communication about Older People's Medications across Transitions of Care.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Exploring factors of diagnostic delay for patients with bipolar disorder: a population-based cohort study.BMC psychiatry · 2020Article
- Accuracy of pharmacist electronic discharge medicines review information transmitted to primary care at discharge.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2019Observational
- The use of personalised patient information leaflets to improve patients' perceived understanding following open fractures.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2019Article
- A dual intervention in geriatric patients to prevent drug-related problems and improve discharge management.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2018Article
- Electronic discharge summary and prescription: improving communication between hospital and primary care.Irish journal of medical science · 2017Article
- Article
- Does an integrated information technology system provide support for community pharmacists undertaking Discharge Medicines Reviews? An exploratory study.Integrated pharmacy research & practice · 2017Article
- The quality of dermatology consultation documentation in discharge summaries: a retrospective analysis.International journal of women's dermatology · 2016Article
- Improving Continuity of Care via the Discharge Summary.AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium · 2015Article
- Adverse drug events after hospital discharge in older adults: types, severity, and involvement of Beers Criteria Medications.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2013Article
- Comprehensive quality of discharge summaries at an academic medical center.Journal of hospital medicine · 2013Article
- Development of an electronic medical record based intervention to improve medical care of osteoporosis.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo discover how often hospital discharge summaries were available to physicians seeing patients for follow-up visits after hospitalization.
designCohort study.
settingTeaching hospital in Ottawa, Ont.
participantsWe studied 792 patients discharged from an internal medicine service after treatment for acute illness. We determined when and by which physician each patient was seen during the first 6 months after discharge. We also determined the date each patient's discharge summary was printed and the physicians to whom it was sent. We confirmed that summaries were received by means of a survey or by telephoning physicians' offices. Patients were observed for 6 months or until they were readmitted to hospital.
main outcome measuresProportion of follow-up visits to physicians for which discharge summaries were available.
resultsDuring the observation period, patients made 6619 visits (median six per patient, interquartile range [IQR] 2 to 9) to 914 different physicians (median three per patient, IQR 2 to 4). Discharge summaries were available for only 996 (15%) visits. Summaries were available for only 65 initial visits (8.2%); no summaries were available for any visit for 542 (68.4%) patients. Summaries were most commonly unavailable because they were not generated in time for follow-up visits (20.0%) or were not sent to follow-up physicians (50.8%).
conclusionAt our institution, discharge summaries often did not get to physicians seeing patients after discharge from hospital.
Indexed as
Identifiers
12046369PMC2214034What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.