ArticleBMJ open2025
Hospital discharge communication problems in 10 high-income nations: a secondary analysis of an international health policy survey.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Telehealth Use and Satisfaction in Primary and Mental Health Care Across 9 High-Income Countries.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2026Article
- Exploring consumer and healthcare professional perspectives on discharge medicine communication and solutions for safer transitions of care.BMC health services research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe aimed to determine the prevalence of hospital discharge communication problems in adults of 10 high-income nations and the associated factors.
designSecondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data.
setting2023 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey for Adults, including data from residents of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
participants3763 survey respondents aged 18 and older who reported hospitalisation at least one time in the past 2 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Our primary outcome measure is poor discharge communication (PDC), which is a composite variable comprising three questions regarding the provision of written information, follow-up arrangement and discussion of medications at time of discharge.
resultsThe overall PDC rate was 17.1%, with the highest in Germany (19.7%) and the lowest in the Netherlands (9.2%). No follow-up arrangement was the most commonly reported problem (22.8%). Respondents who concerned about social service needs and mental health issues were more likely to report PDC.
conclusionsProviders should consider factors which impact PDC at hospital discharge and tailor communication appropriately. Hospitals, communities and countries should work towards policies that address underlying issues related to social determinants of health, including support for lower-income patients, improved treatment access for patients with physical and mental health conditions, and food and housing stability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What 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.