Information Transfer at Hospital Discharge: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Patient Safety
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Effective patient care relies on prompt, complete, and accurate information transfer from hospitals to primary care providers (PCPs).
• Gaps in discharge information can compromise patient safety and care continuity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the timeliness and quality of hospital discharge summaries.
• To assess interventions aimed at improving the timeliness and quality of discharge summaries.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of observational and controlled studies published between 2007 and 2014.
• Searches conducted across major scientific databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus).
• Data extraction focused on summary availability, timeliness, content, and intervention effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Discharge summaries were completed within 48 hours for a median of 67% of patients, but only available to PCPs within 48 hours 55% of the time.
• Summaries commonly included demographics and diagnoses, but lacked details on pending tests (25%), performed tests (60%), and post-discharge medications (78%).
• Electronic discharge summaries improved timeliness and availability in 6 interventional studies, but did not consistently enhance summary quality.

Conclusions:

• Delayed or incomplete discharge information transfer between hospitals and PCPs is a persistent issue.
• Electronic discharge summaries show promise for improving timeliness and availability but require further development to consistently enhance information quality.