Medical records serve many functions but their primary purpose is to support patient care.
The RCP Health Informatics Unit (HIU) has found variability in the quality of records and …

The objective of this study was to examine the reliability, effectiveness, accuracy and
timeliness of hospital to general practitioner (GP) information transfer by discharge …

The objective of this study was to determine what physicians perceive to be necessary for
high-quality discharge summaries. One-on-one surveys of 100 hospital-based physicians-in …

BACKGROUND: Hospital discharge summaries have traditionally been paper-based
(handwritten or dictated), and deficiencies have often been reported. On the increase is the …

BACKGROUND: Hospital discharge summaries communicate information necessary for
continuing patient care. They are most commonly generated by voice dictation and are often …

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether family physicians prefer discharge summaries in
narrative or standardized format and to determine factors affecting this preference. DESIGN …

Discharge summaries (DS) communicate important clinical information from inpatient to
outpatient settings. Previous studies noted increased adverse events and rehospitalization …

During an 8-month interval of prospective audit, 63 of 637 (10 per cent) vascular discharge
summaries were found to contain 94 errors. These comprised 11 (12 per cent) general …

OBJECTIVE: To assess the timing, legibility, and completeness of handwritten, faxed
hospital discharge summaries as judged by family physicians and to obtain their opinion on …

The discharge summary from hospital to community physician contributes importantly to
patient management, but deficiencies in its preparation are well documented. We sought to …