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Audit and feedback: An intervention to improve discharge summary completion
Author(s) -
Dinescu Anca,
Fernandez Helen,
Ross Joseph S,
Karani Reena
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.1002/jhm.831
Subject(s) - medicine , checklist , audit , hospital medicine , quality management , generalized estimating equation , intervention (counseling) , emergency medicine , physical therapy , family medicine , nursing , psychology , management system , statistics , mathematics , management , economics , cognitive psychology
Discharge summaries (DS) communicate important clinical information from inpatient to outpatient settings. Previous studies noted increased adverse events and rehospitalization due to poor DS quality. We postulated that an audit and feedback intervention of DS completed by geriatric medicine fellows would improve the completeness of their summaries. We conducted a preintervention post intervention study. In phase 1 (AUDIT #1 and FEEDBACK) we scored all DS (n = 89) completed by first year fellows between July 2006 to December 2006 using a 21‐item checklist. Individual performance scores were reviewed with each fellow in 30‐minute feedback sessions. In phase 2 (AUDIT #2) we scored all DS (n = 79) completed after the first phase between February 2007 to July 2007 using the same checklist. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. Fellows were more likely to complete all required DS data after feedback when compared with prior to feedback (91% vs. 71%, P < 0.001). Feedback was also associated with improved admission (93% vs. 70%, P < 0.001), duration of hospitalization (93% vs 78%, P < 0.001), discharge planning (93% vs. 18%, P < 0.02) and postdischarge care (83% vs. 57%., P < 0.001) section‐specific information. In conclusion, audit and feedback sessions were associated with better DS completeness in areas of particular importance to geriatric care. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2011;6:28–32. © 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine.