ArticleJournal of hospital medicine2013
Comprehensive quality of discharge summaries at an academic medical center.
Article in Journal of hospital medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis on the risks of medical discharge letters for patients' safety.BMC health services research · 2019Pooled it
- A systematic review on the effect of the organisation of hospital discharge on patient health outcomes.BMJ open · 2016Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Association of discharge summary quality with readmission risk for patients hospitalized with heart failure exacerbation.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2015Trial
- Hospital variation in quality of discharge summaries for patients hospitalized with heart failure exacerbation.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2015Trial
- Quality Assessment of Physician Discharge Summaries: Instrument Development and Reliability Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Optimizing Discharge Summaries: A Survey of Inpatient Clinician Perspectives and the Path to Standardization.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Physician-physician handover from acute care to rehabilitation setting: A scoping review protocol.PloS one · 2025Article
- Bridging Inpatient and Outpatient Care: A Scoping Review on Discharge Summary Documentation Timeliness and Quality.Journal of Brown hospital medicine · 2025Review
- Comparison of the Quality of Discharge Letters Written by Large Language Models and Junior Clinicians: Single-Blinded Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Talking About Notes: Using a Design-Based Research Approach to Develop a Discharge Summary Template on a Geriatric Inpatient Unit.Canadian geriatrics journal : CGJ · 2023Article
- The Quality of Discharge Summaries After Acute Kidney Injury.Canadian journal of kidney health and disease · 2023Article
- Structure, content, unsafe abbreviations, and completeness of discharge summaries: A retrospective analysis in a University Hospital in Austria.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2021Article
- Discharge Communication of Dementia-Related Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Care Management Strategies During Hospital to Skilled Nursing Facility Transitions.Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology · 2021Article
- Lack of recognition and documentation of stress hyperglycemia is a disruptor of optimal continuity of care.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Is the routine health information system ready to support the planned national health insurance scheme in South Africa?Health policy and planning · 2021Article
- Development and psychometric properties of surveys to assess provider perspectives on the barriers and facilitators of effective care transitions.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- What makes a "successful" or "unsuccessful" discharge letter? Hospital clinician and General Practitioner assessments of the quality of discharge letters.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Response to: an audit of discharge summaries from secondary to primary care.Irish journal of medical science · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDischarge summaries are essential for safe transitions from hospital to home.
objectiveTo conduct a comprehensive quality assessment of discharge summaries.
designProspective cohort study. SUBJECTS: Three hundred seventy-seven patients discharged home after hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, or pneumonia. MEASURES: Discharge summaries were assessed for timeliness of dictation, transmission of the summary to appropriate outpatient clinicians, and presence of key content including elements required by The Joint Commission and elements endorsed by 6 medical societies in the Transitions of Care Consensus Conference (TOCCC).
resultsA total of 376 of 377 patients had completed discharge summaries. A total of 174 (46.3%) summaries were dictated on the day of discharge; 93 (24.7%) were completed more than a week after discharge. A total of 144 (38.3%) discharge summaries were not sent to any outpatient physician. On average, summaries included 5.6 of 6 The Joint Commission elements and 4.0 of 7 TOCCC elements. Summaries dictated by hospitalists were more likely to be timely and to include key content than summaries dictated by housestaff or advanced practice nurses. Summaries dictated on the day of discharge were more likely to be sent to outside physicians and to include key content. No summary met all 3 quality criteria of timeliness, transmission, and content.
conclusionsDischarge summary quality is inadequate in many domains. This may explain why individual aspects of summary quality such as timeliness or content have not been associated with improved patient outcomes. However, improving discharge summary timeliness may also improve content and transmission.
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