Key result
Clinicians and patients identified physician-centric documentation, limited access to resources and health informatics, and process variations as major factors limiting the quality of current orthopaedic discharge summaries.
Identified key factors limiting the quality of orthopaedic discharge summaries, highlighting the need for inter-professional perspectives and better health informatics.
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May guide local quality initiatives in orthopaedics; leaves open which interventions improve summary quality and outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing orthopaedic procedures experience major changes in function and daily routines upon their return home. Discharge summaries are an important communication tool that may play a role in optimizing a safe transition from hospital. Current care gaps and key elements of an ideal discharge summary specific for orthopaedic population are unknown. We sought to identify the challenges of current orthopaedic discharge summaries and to determine key elements of an ideal document. METHODS: Qualitative study survey using semi-structured interviews with a sample of 17 patients and clinicians representing diverse professions, backgrounds, and practice settings. We used the constant comparative method of qualitative analysis to define the experiences and perceptions of quality gaps and strategies to improve orthopaedic-specific discharge summaries. RESULTS: We identified 3 major themes describing factors perceived to be limiting the quality of current discharge summaries: 1) physician-centric documentation and the absence of a comprehensive, inter-professional perspective; 2) access to resources and health informatics; and 3) process variations in document creation and dissemination. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and patients identified several factors limiting the quality of discharge summaries among orthopaedic inpatients. Incorporating these elements could improve hospital transitions.
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Soong et al. (2016) studied Orthopaedic procedures (n=17). Qualitative interviews on discharge summary design was evaluated on Challenges of current orthopaedic discharge summaries and key elements of an ideal document. Clinicians and patients identified physician-centric documentation, limited access to resources and health informatics, and process variations as major factors limiting the quality of current orthopaedic discharge summaries.
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