ArticleEuropean journal of cancer care2022
Quality of hospital discharge letters for patients at the end of life: A retrospective medical record review.
Article in European journal of cancer care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- What helps or hinders the communication of poor prognosis between secondary and primary care? A systematic review with narrative synthesis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Palliative care provision for children in general practice: A retrospective cohort study.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- Differences in discharge letter content: oncologists' vs. home care physicians' needs.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Quality of hospital discharge letters for patients at the end of life: A retrospective medical record review.European journal of cancer care · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveFor patients who are discharged to go home after a hospitalisation, timely and adequately informing their general practitioner is important for continuity of care, especially at the end of life. We studied the quality of the hospital discharge letter for patients who were hospitalised in their last year of life.
methodsA retrospective medical record review was performed. Included patients had been admitted to the hospital during the period 1 January to 1 July 2017 and had died within a year after discharge.
resultsData were collected from records of 108 patients with cancer or other diseases. For 57 patients (53%), the discharge letter included information that related to their limited life expectancy (e.g., agreements about treatment limitations), whereas the patient's limited life expectancy was addressed in the medical record in 76 cases (70%). We found related information in discharge letters for 36 patients (66%) who died <3 months compared to 21 patients (40%) who died 3-12 months after hospitalisation (p < 0.01).
conclusionFor patients with a limited life expectancy going home after a hospitalisation, one out of two hospital discharge letters lacked any information addressing their limited life expectancy. Specific guidelines for medical information exchange between care settings are needed.
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