Improvement of Communication with Primary Care Practitioners with The Use of Emergency Department Discharge Summaries

Abstract

Objective: To assess the quality of documentation and the frequency of provision of discharge summaries to general practitioners (GP) for patients discharged from our emergency department (ED).Material and Methods: The ED records of 50 patients who presented to the ED and who had been discharged to self-care or the care of their GP on an arbitrarily chosen day were selected for auditing. A pre-formatted computerised discharge summary was then introduced to the ED and the first 50 consecutive electronic discharge summaries of patients who visited the ED were selected for auditing. Results: *O UIF öSTU BVEJU DZDMF B EJBHOPTJT XBT EPDVNFOUFE JO PG DBTFT %PDVNFOUBUJPO PG LFZ JOWFTUJHBUJPO SFTVMUT XBT QSFTFOU JO PG DBTFT %PDVNFOtation that a prescription was provided to the patient was present in 46% of cases. Documentation of appropriate follow-up care and self-care instructions was EFNPOTUSBUFE JO BOE PG DBTFT 0G UIPTF EJTDIBSHFE UP (1 DBSF OPOF IBE EPDVNFOUBUJPO UIBU B (1 MFUUFS XBT TFOU PS B DPQZ BUUBDIFE 4FDPOE DZDMF (1 correspondence letters were sent and a copy saved in all cases. A diagnosis, follow-up care plan and results of key investigations were documented in 100% of EJTDIBSHF TVNNBSJFT 4FMG DBSF JOTUSVDUJPOT PO EJTDIBSHF XFSF EPDVNFOUFE JO PG DBTFT Conclusion: The introduction of electronic discharge summaries improved the quality and safety of the discharge process within our emergency department and paves the way for further improvements in information transfer technology.