Automating pending labs list into discharge summaries.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Pending test results not communicated during the post-acute care transition may pose harm and lead to diagnostic errors in patients. This quality improvement initiative aimed to assess the effectiveness of pending labs communication by automating a list of pending labs into discharge summaries.

Methods

A SmartLink was developed in the EpicCare electronic health record that populates a list of pending labs and pathology studies and was added to the standard discharge summary template for hospitalists and resident physicians. A 2-month pre-post review of randomly selected discharge encounters was conducted to assess the frequencies of discharge summaries reporting pending labs, discharges with pending labs, discharges with eventually abnormal pending labs and disc

SUBMITTER: Nguyen KT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12699612 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature