Pre-formatted written discharge summary-a step towards quality assurance in the emergency department

Providing discharge instructions to emergency department (ED) patients is not a standard practice and there is wide disparity in its implementation. There is evidence that ED discharge instructions, especially a pre- formatted one, complements verbal instructions and improves patient communication and management.

Our aim was to audit the practice of providing a discharge summary in a standardized pre-formatted form to patients visiting the ED at Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF), Chennai, India.

Case sheets of 200 patients who visited the ED from 1 July to 31 August 2007 were selected randomly and were assessed for the documentation of the demographic and clinical details in the retained copy of the discharge summary by three medical records personnel independently. Descriptive analysis was used to measure frequency and percentages.

All patients (100%) received a discharge summary and a carbon copy of the same was retained in the hospital. Demographic data, diagnosis, prescription and discharge instructions were written in > 80%. Legibility of the three important sections, namely diagnosis, prescription and discharge instructions, were 66, 76 and 65%, respectively. The diagnosis was written in an abbreviated form in 27%. The patient's signature was obtained in 80%, while doctors signed in 89%. Investigation results and follow-up advice were not documented in 85 and 93%, respectively.

The pre-formatted discharge summary provided more information than a prescription form in terms of the amount of information written by virtue of its structured nature. Deficiencies did reflect a resistance to change current practices in spite of having a structured data sheet. Physician and staff education could overcome this.