A Quality Improvement Approach to Improving Discharge Documentation.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Accurate discharge documentation is critical to ensuring a safe and effective transition of care following hospitalization, yet many discharge summaries do not meet consensus standards for content. A local needs assessment demonstrated gaps in documentation of 3 essential elements: discharge diagnosis, discharge medications, and follow-up appointments. This study aimed to increase the completion of three discharge elements from a baseline of 45% by 20 percentage points over 16 months for patients discharged from the general pediatrics service.

Methods

Ten discharge summaries were randomly selected and analyzed during each successive 2-week time period. Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles aimed to improve provider knowledge of essential discharge summary content, clarify co

SUBMITTER: Banker SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10997293 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature