Non-systematic review: Correspondence quality and interoperability between family physicians and hospital clinicians

Medical correspondence between physicians working in the community and in hospital is paramount to provide continuity of care, but there is no agreement on what constitutes a good quality letter, not even interest by some clinicians on this interface. Information flow could be faster electronically rather than in paper, but is content improving? What defines a good letter?

(a) To assess what information should be shared between family doctors and hospital physicians and could it be shared better. (b) To assess the possibility of linking the sections of the letter to SNOMED-CT codes to improve interoperability.

Authors vary regarding what is to be included in communications, and as they also have different needs among services, it creates a very long list of possible items to consider. Standardised templates with their corresponding SNOMED-CT codes are presented.

Standardised correspondence could improve continuity of care. Appropriately coded it could facilitate the information sharing and the data manipulation required to provide an adequate provision of services among primary care or family physicians and hospitals or secondary care organisations. It could also serve as a tool to assess clinicians' performance.