[The Importance of High Quality Discharge Letters: An Empirical Investigation]

The discharge letter is part of the discharge management. This study empirically examines the quality of discharge letters after a stay in a psychiatric/psychosomatic clinic using a self-developed code list. Suggestions are made for the creation and structuring of high-quality discharge letters that provide information to practitioners and institutions that should help in the seamless further treatment of patients.

Different aspects of the social-psychiatric and social-medical assessments in 50 discharge letters were evaluated by 2 raters each; in case of disagreements in evaluation, a consensus was reached.

The average time between discharge from hospital and completion of the discharge letter was 22.4 days (median: 15.0 days). In 18% of cases, the letter of discharge was available at the time of discharge and in 14% within one week. In 24% of cases, the letter of discharge was only available after 27 days or longer. In 97.5% of the cases, the medication was completely listed, but in 52% of the cases, there was no information on further medical treatment by the specialist. When further treatment was recommended (n=10, e. g. day clinic or PIA), it was initiated in only three cases. At the time of admission, 28 patients had a job. Information on the employment status of 11 patients was missing. Information on the ability to work at the time of admission was complete in 44% and incomplete in 20%. At the time of discharge, seven patients were able to work, 19 were incapacitated and information on work ability was missing in the discharge report of 24 patients.

A high quality discharge letter contains clear formulations, is structured, contains only relevant information and a separate chapter "Therapy recommendations/recommendations for further action". Electronic discharge letters with automated inclusion of examination findings/assessments save time and money during preparation and reading.