Caroline E Reinke1, Rachel R Kelz2, Charles A Baillie3, Anne Norris3, Sara Schmidt4, Nicholas Wingate5, Jennifer S Myers6. 1. Department of Surgery, Division of Surgery Education, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 4 Maloney, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: caroline.reinke@uphs.upenn.edu. 2. Department of Surgery, Division of Surgery Education, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 4 Maloney, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. 3. Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 4. Clinical Effectiveness and Quality Improvement, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 5. Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 6. Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: As electronic discharge summaries (EDS) become more prevalent and health care systems increase their focus on transitions of care, analysis of EDS quality is important. The objective of this study was to assess the timeliness and quality of EDS compared with dictated summaries for surgical patients, which has not previously been evaluated. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of a sample of discharge summaries from surgical patients at an urban university teaching hospital before and after the implementation of an EDS program. Summaries were evaluated on several dimensions, including time to summary completion, summary length, and summary quality, which was measured on a 13-item scoring tool. RESULTS: After the exclusion of 5 patients who died, 195 discharge summaries were evaluated. Discharge summaries before and after EDS implementation were similar in admission types and discharge destinations of the patients. Compared with dictated summaries, EDS had equivalent overall quality (P = .11), with higher or equivalent scores on all specific quality aspects except readability. There was a highly significant statistical and clinical improvement in timeliness for electronic summaries (P < .01). Obvious use of copying and pasting was identified in 8% of discharge summaries and was associated with decreased readability (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of EDS can improve the timeliness of summary completion without sacrificing quality for surgical patients. Excessive copying and pasting can reduce the readability of discharge summaries, and strategies to discourage this practice without the use of appropriate editing should be used.
BACKGROUND: As electronic discharge summaries (EDS) become more prevalent and health care systems increase their focus on transitions of care, analysis of EDS quality is important. The objective of this study was to assess the timeliness and quality of EDS compared with dictated summaries for surgical patients, which has not previously been evaluated. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of a sample of discharge summaries from surgical patients at an urban university teaching hospital before and after the implementation of an EDS program. Summaries were evaluated on several dimensions, including time to summary completion, summary length, and summary quality, which was measured on a 13-item scoring tool. RESULTS: After the exclusion of 5 patients who died, 195 discharge summaries were evaluated. Discharge summaries before and after EDS implementation were similar in admission types and discharge destinations of the patients. Compared with dictated summaries, EDS had equivalent overall quality (P = .11), with higher or equivalent scores on all specific quality aspects except readability. There was a highly significant statistical and clinical improvement in timeliness for electronic summaries (P < .01). Obvious use of copying and pasting was identified in 8% of discharge summaries and was associated with decreased readability (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of EDS can improve the timeliness of summary completion without sacrificing quality for surgical patients. Excessive copying and pasting can reduce the readability of discharge summaries, and strategies to discourage this practice without the use of appropriate editing should be used.
Authors: Benjamin S Brooke; Julie Beckstrom; Stacey L Slager; Charlene R Weir; Guilherme Del Fiol Journal: J Surg Res Date: 2019-07-09 Impact factor: 2.192