[Proposal of standardised and logical templates for discharge letters and discharge summaries sent to general...

Background: Communication between general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals is a weak point of the French health system. Unfortunately, hospital discharge documents, a keypoint for healthcare safety and efficiency, tend to be poorly defined. This study aimed to propose standardised and logical templates for discharge letters (DL) and discharge summaries (DS) with particular attention to GPs’ needs.Methods: A Delphi methodology was conducted on the findings of a systematic review of the international literature. We recruited 28 experts including producers (hospital physicians and interns), recipients (GPs, head of the medical information department, patient representatives), and other professionals using discharge documents (representative of regional health administration for inspection and control, jurist, pharmacists).Results: A consensus was reached after two rounds of consultation. According to the experts, DS should ideally be available on the last day of hospitalization, but this is rarely possible. DL have therefore become the most important document for GPs. Two standardised and logical templates were submitted to the experts for validation. The templates were considered to be pertinent by the experts and were perceived as improving several key points such as writing and reading speed, communication between hospitals and community practitioners or safety of healthcare after discharge from hospital.Conclusion: DL and DS templates will be tested in pilot hospitals by an impact study.