Effect of discharge summary availability during post-discharge visits on hospital readmission
Journal of General Internal MedicinePublished 1 March 2002Open access
Carl Walraven, Ratika Seth, Peter C. Austin, Andreas Laupacis
Citations320
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
The risk of rehospitalization may decrease when patients are assessed following discharge by physicians who have received the discharge summary, and further research is required to determine if better continuity of patient information improves patient outcomes.
Abstract
The risk of rehospitalization may decrease when patients are assessed following discharge by physicians who have received the discharge summary. Further research is required to determine if better continuity of patient information improves patient outcomes.
Keywords
Medicine
PubMedEffective physician-patient communication and health outcomes: a review.
4,076 Citations1995Moira Stewart
The quality of communication both in the history-taking segment of the visit and during discussion of the management plan was found to influence patient health outcomes.
Archives of Internal MedicineReadmission After Hospitalization for Congestive Heart Failure Among Medicare Beneficiaries
815 Citations1997Harlan M. Krumholz
Readmission after a hospitalization for congestive heart failure is common among Medicare beneficiaries, with almost half of the patients readmitted within 6 months, a striking rate of readmission in a common diagnosis.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyEarly Readmission of Elderly Patients With Congestive Heart Failure
729 Citations1990Janice M. Vinson, Michael W. Rich +3 more
Annals of Internal MedicineThe Association between the Quality of Inpatient Care and Early Readmission
391 Citations1995Carol M. Ashton, David H. Kuykendall +3 more
This study sought to determine whether the quality of inpatient care was associated with unplanned readmission within 14 days in men discharged from a hospital stay for treatment of diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease, or heart failure.
Medical CareThe Association Between the Quality of Inpatient Care and Early Readmission
375 Citations1997Carol M. Ashton, Deborah J. del Junco +3 more
Early readmission is significantly associated with the process of inpatient care and is increased by 55% when care is of relatively low quality, that is, substandard or normative instead of normative or exceptional.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyScreening Elders for Risk of Hospital Admission
340 Citations1993Chad Boult, Bryan Dowd +4 more
A set of screening criteria that identifies elders who are at high risk for repeated hospital admission in the future is defined.
The American Journal of CardiologyCorrelates of Early Hospital Readmission or Death in Patients With Congestive Heart Failure
309 Citations1997Marshall H. Chin, Lee Goldman
The independent correlates of readmission or death support the importance of both medical and social factors in the pathway to clinical decline, but could not reliably identify a truly low-risk group.
JAMAContinuity of outpatient medical care in elderly men. A randomized trial
293 Citations1984John H. Wasson
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyHospital Readmissions Among the Elderly
223 Citations1985Judith S. Gooding, Alan M. Jette
Preliminary data suggest that hospital readmission among the aged is a complex multifaceted phenomena.
JAMAContinuity of Outpatient Medical Care in Elderly Men
218 Citations1984John H. Wasson
It is concluded that continuity of outpatient provider care for men aged 55 years and older results in more patient satisfaction, shorter hospitalizations, and fewer emergent hospital admissions.
Annals of Internal MedicineComputerized Display of Past Test Results
211 Citations1987William M. Tierney, Clement J. McDonald +3 more
Presenting physicians with previous test results reduced the ordering of those tests, and the actual effect may have been greater than 13%, because there were reductions in study tests ordered for both intervention and control patients during the intervention period when compared with the pre-intervention period.
American Heart JournalCongestive heart failure hospitalizations and survival in California: Patterns according to race/ethnicity
208 Citations1999Mark E. Alexander, Kevin Grumbach +3 more
The disparate findings of higher hospitalization and rehospitalization rates and lower mortality rates among African Americans than whites may represent differences in the underlying pathophysiology of CHF in these groups or differences in access to quality care.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyEffects of Home‐Based Intervention on Unplanned Readmissions and Out‐of‐Hospital Deaths
188 Citations1998Simon Stewart, Sue Pearson +2 more
The aim of this study is to determine the effect of a home‐based intervention on the frequency of unplanned readmission and out‐of‐hospital death among patients discharged home from acute hospital care.
PubMedContinuity of outpatient medical care in elderly men. A randomized trial.
184 Citations1984John H. Wasson, Arthur E. Sauvigne +5 more
BMJFactors affecting early unplanned readmission of elderly patients to hospital.
181 Citations1988E. Idris Williams, F Fitton
Patients in the study group and in the control group showed significant differences in certain characteristics--such as low income, previous hospital admission, already having nursing care, and admission by general practitioners--and this might help to identify patients who are likely to be readmitted in an emergency.
Social Science & MedicineA conceptual framework for the study of early readmission as an indicator of quality of care
179 Citations1996Carol M. Ashton, Naomi R. Wray
A conceptual model is devised for the use of unscheduled readmission within 31 days as an indicator of the quality of medical-surgical inpatient care for adults and a systematic review of the readmission literature is conducted to determine the extent to which the evidence supports the proposed relationships.
Annals of Internal MedicineAn Introduction to the Hospitalist Model
174 Citations1999Robert M. Wachter
A clearer vision of the benefits and risks of the hospitalist model, a deeper understanding of the various shapes of this model and of how some shapes might be better suited to some settings than others, and the framework of an agenda for future research and policy efforts are emerged.
Medical CareHospital Readmissions and Quality of Care
138 Citations1999Joel S. Weissman, John Z. Ayanian +4 more
RARs are statistically associated with lower quality of care, and neither RARs nor other readmissions appear to be useful tools for identifying patients who experience inferior care or for comparing quality among hospitals.
Archives of Family MedicineCommunication between primary care physicians and consultants
137 Citations1995Ronald M. Epstein
Changes in the health care system offer the opportunity for improved collaboration between physicians by creating smaller administrative units within large health care systems that facilitate contact between primary care physicians and consultants; incorporation of discussions of uncertainty, patient preferences, and values into referral letters; adoption of a friendlier consultant letter format; and the improvement of the transfer of clinical data.
Annals of Internal MedicineHospitalists and the Practice of Inpatient Medicine: Results of a Survey of the National Association of Inpatient Physicians
122 Citations1999Peter K. Lindenauer, Steven Z. Pantilat +2 more
The number of hospital-based physicians, or hospitalists, in the United States has grown rapidly, yet no published data have characterized hospitalists or their practices.
PubMedDoes continuous care from a physician make a difference?
118 Citations1982Dietrich Aj, Marton Ki
Review of the literature regarding the effect of a continuous relationship with a personal health care provider (longitudinal care) on quality of care using specific selection criteria and methodological standards found four studies provided most of the valid information.
PubMedIdentification of factors associated with hospital readmission and development of a predictive model.
115 Citations1992Janet M. Corrigan, Juan Blazquez Martin
This study analyzes the multiple admission patterns associated with a cohort of 4,219 adult medical-surgical patients discharged alive from a community teaching hospital in Michigan to highlight the importance of decisions regarding posthospital, long-term care services on the likelihood of rehospitalization.
PubMedThe impact of patient socioeconomic status and other social factors on readmission: a prospective study in four Massachusetts hospitals.
106 Citations1994Joel S. Weissman, Robert S. Stern +1 more
The results suggest that patients in lower socioeconomic positions have higher readmission rates, at least for readmissions within longer time periods, and providers designing interventions to reduce the risk of readmission may want to target the groups identified by the study.
Journal of General Internal MedicineFactors predicting readmission of older general medicine patients
105 Citations1991Robert Burns, Linda O. Nichols
Chronically ill patients who are severely ill at index admission and who have had several hospitalizations in the past year tend to be readmitted, and high-risk patients may be prospectively targeted to reduce readmissions.
Medical Care"Risk" Factors Affecting Readmission of the Elderly Into the Health Care System
102 Citations1986Carol C. Fethke, Ian M. Smith +1 more
One hundred one patients, 70 years and older, who were discharged to the community from an acute-care hospital were followed for 1 year to isolate risk factors affecting the probability of readmission.
PubMedQuality assessment of a discharge summary system.
100 Citations1995Carl van Walraven, A. Weinberg
Considerable deficiencies in the completeness of the discharge summaries and the efficiency of the discharged summary system were found in the participating hospitals.
Archives of Internal MedicineA Case Manager Intervention to Reduce Readmissions
98 Citations1994John F. Fitzgerald
Frequent contacts for education, care, and accessibility by case managers using protocols were ineffective in reducing nonelective readmissions.
PubMedRisk factors for early readmission among veterans.
94 Citations1990James J. Holloway, Sharon V. Medendorp +1 more
Clinical and demographic factors are more predictive of early readmission than are social factors, and these factors could be used to improve VA discharge planning and to focus quality assurance and utilization review efforts on providers whose early readmissions rates exceed those predicted by the models.
PubMedDictated versus database-generated discharge summaries: a randomized clinical trial.
92 Citations1999Carl van Walraven, Andreas Laupacis +2 more
The use of computer databases to create hospital discharge summaries is promising and merits further study and refinement.
BMJCommunications between General Practitioners and Consultants
84 Citations1974A. Long, Jennan Atkins
Though most doctors were satisfied with communications in general the evidence suggested ways of improving communication between consultants and general practitioners, such as encouraging domiciliary visits where both doctors are present and consultant sessions in health centres, but that any innovation in this field could only be successful if the attitude of the consultants andgeneral practitioners were in harmony with the new venture.
Journal of General Internal MedicineRisk factors for early unplanned hospital readmission in the elderly
84 Citations1991Richard Reed, Robert A. Pearlman +1 more
PubMedHospital readmission after cardiac surgery. Does "fast track" cardiac surgery result in cost saving or cost shifting?
78 Citations1998Stephen J. Lahey, Christian T. Campos +4 more
Patients discharged > or = 7 days postoperatively represent the patients at greatest risk of readmission and, therefore, warrant closer scrutiny before discharge.
International Journal of Medical InformaticsShared care for diabetes: supporting communication between primary and secondary care
71 Citations1999P. J. Branger, A. van’t Hooft +3 more
The electronic communication network for exchanging consultation outcomes significantly increased frequency of communication and the availability of data to the general practitioner on diagnostic procedures performed in the hospital, thus providing more complete information about the care that patients are receiving.
Medical CareDischarge Destination and Repeat Hospitalizations
69 Citations1997Lois Camberg, Nancy Smith +4 more
It is found that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and patients with dementia who were discharged to nursing homes (community and Veterans Health Administration, respectively) were less likely to be readmitted within 30 days after discharge than patients discharged to personal homes.
Journal of General Internal MedicinePredicting emergency readmissions for patients discharged from the medical service of a teaching hospital
60 Citations1987Russell S. Phillips, Charles Safran +2 more
BMJHospital discharge reports: content and design.
60 Citations1975Alistair Tulloch, G H Fowler +2 more
Drug reactions seemed to be under-reported in the initial discharge reports and information about treatment on discharge was inadequate and the recording of the prognosis and information given to the patient was deficient.
Journal of General Internal MedicineEffect of a nurse case manager on postdischarge follow-up
58 Citations1996Douglas Einstadter, Randall D. Cebul +1 more
Use of a nurse case manager to coordinate outpatient follow-up prior to discharge improved the continuity of outpatient care for patients on a general medical service.
Annals of Internal MedicineThe Hospitalist Model: Perspectives of the Patient, the Internist, and Internal Medicine
57 Citations1999Harold C. Sox
This model is a proposed solution to the conflicts engendered by the internist's shrinking hospital census and expanding office practice and by the increasingly technical content of hospital care.
British journal of surgeryProspective audit of discharge summary errors
57 Citations1996Ewan Macaulay, G G Cooper +2 more
This study suggests that verification of the accuracy of clinical and management data should be an essential component of departmental audit meetings.
BMJInterim discharge summaries: how are they best delivered to general practitioners?
53 Citations1987DavidA. Sandler, J.R.A. Mitchell
If all interim discharge summaries were given to patients to deliver communication between hospitals and general practitioners would be accelerated and considerable savings might be made.
PubMedRelationship between early readmission and hospital quality of care indicators.
50 Citations1993Robert L. Ludke, B M Booth +1 more
Compared the quality of care provided to samples of 134 unplanned readmissions and 158 nonreadmissions from 50 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers, inclusion of the quality indicators significantly increased the predictive power of the logistic models.
RadiologyCommunication problems after mammographic screening.
46 Citations1989Charles L. Robertson, Daniel B. Kopans
The authors prospectively assessed the effectiveness of requests for immediate additional evaluation or biopsy made on the basis of the interpretation of abnormal findings on screening mammograms and suggest the need for development of systems to ensure prompt action in patients with abnormal findings at mammographic screening.
BMJGeneral practitioner response to elderly patients discharged from hospital.
46 Citations1990E. Idris Williams, F Fitton
Hospital communications to general practitioners about the discharge of elderly patients still cause concern, particularly in the time they take to arrive, and it is clearly important for someone (either the general practitioner or another health worker) to visit elderly people shortly after their discharge.
PubMedFactors related to rehospitalization within thirty days of discharge after coronary artery bypass grafting.
33 Citations1997Beggs Vl, Birkemeyer Nj +3 more
Although the reasons for rehospitalization after CABG are heterogeneous andrelated to patient severity of illness as well as comorbid status, several of the most common are potentially preventable and related to quality of care.
Annals of Internal MedicineThe Hospitalist: A New Medical Specialty?
28 Citations1999Mark A. Kelley
Evaluating the role of the hospitalist requires a historical perspective on medical practice over the past 30 years to understand how specialties other than hospital care have been formed.
Journal of General Internal MedicineRisk factors for nonelective hospital readmissions
24 Citations1996David M. Smith, Barry P. Katz +4 more
It is found that the previously reported risk factors were generalizable, and other potentially modifiable risk factorsWere identified in this population of veterans, however, further research is needed to establish if or not the risk factors can be modified and whether or not modification improves outcomes.
Annals of Internal MedicineEvaluating the Impact of Hospitalists
22 Citations1999Jonathan Showstack, Patricia P. Katz +1 more
Key outcomes that need to be assessed and methodologic issues that needs to be addressed when conducting and interpreting the results of evaluations of the hospitalist model are described.
PubMedImpact of general practitioners' referral letters to an emergency department.
18 Citations1994Michael Montalto, P. Harris +1 more
The high inter-rater reliability affirms the use of referral letters as audit tools in general practice and suggests better practical use could be made of general practitioners' referral communication to the emergency department.
BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & GynaecologyAudit of workload in gynaecology: analysis of time trends from linked statistics
16 Citations1991John A. Ferguson, Michael J Goldacre +2 more
Trends in workload patterns in gynaecology using linked statistical data are reported on using linked data for the first time to report on trends in workloads in women's health.
Annals of Internal MedicineThe Hospitalist Movement in the United States: What Does It Mean for Internists?
15 Citations1999David R. Goldmann
A supplement on the hospitalist movement in the United States to accompany this issue of the journal contains 10 articles developed from presentations at a national policy conference of the new National Association of Inpatient Physicians held in December 1997 in San Francisco.
PubMed"Conventional" dictated versus database-generated discharge summaries: timeliness, quality and completeness.
9 Citations1999Dougherty Ge
PubMedAre preadmission general practitioner telephone calls of value? A study in communication.
8 Citations1987P Crone
Preliminary telephone referral to the medical registrar by general practitioners made no difference to the time which patients spent in A & E awaiting admission when compared to self-referred patients.
PubMedShared care for diabetes: supporting communication between primary and secondary care.
8 Citations1998P. J. Branger, A van 't Hooft +3 more
PubMed[Written information from hospital to primary physician about discharged patients].
7 Citations1990Geitung Jt, Nils Kolstrup +1 more
Discharge communications from hospitals to general practitioners in respect of 203 patients have been analyzed in two municipalities in Western Norway, finding that GPs were uncertain about the drug regimen in 25% of the cases and about other forms of treatment in 32%.
PubMedEffectiveness of follow up-letters to health care providers in triggering follow-up for women with abnormal results on Papanicolaou testing.
7 Citations2001Elizabeth L. Wagner, Máire A. Duggan
On average, 24% of women with a cervical abnormality detected by a cervical smear test (Papanicolaou or Pap test) do not receive any follow-up after the test, and this may go unnoticed and progress.
PubMedFindings of negligence followed communication lapses in BC aneurysm case.
6 Citations1997K Capen
A recent BC court case concerned a patient who died because of a ruptured aneurysm, and a Supreme Court judge found that some of the physicians involved had failed in their duty to diagnose the patient's condition properly.
