A NEW discharge summary for patients leaving hospital has been introduced in Gippsland, in response to concerns from doctors with the previous format.
A cohort of Gippsland general practitioners contributed to improvements to the format of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) patient discharge summaries, ultimately to help make a patient’s discharge from hospital to their doctor for ongoing care a seamless process.
Gippsland Primary Health Network and the Gippsland Health Alliance (GHA) launched the Discharge Summary Format Improvement Project in late 2022 to address concerns, and after 12 months of workshops and engagement, the new format went live earlier in November.
Gippsland PHN Acting Chief Executive, Angela Jacob, said those involved in the project hoped the changes to the format would benefit Gippsland patients and doctors by improving communication channels and making a patient’s discharge from the hospital to their doctor for ongoing care a smooth transition.
“We know the frustration from our doctors when they often discover their patients have had a serious episode that has required hospitalisation and after the patient is discharged, they don’t have all the information to support their ongoing care,” Mrs Jacob said.
“This project is a great outcome for everyone involved who all want a safe handover of care.”
Discharge summaries support the transfer of a patient from a hospital back to the care of their nominated primary healthcare provider by capturing details about the patient’s hospital stay. This includes presentation problems and diagnosis, procedures performed, a summary of the stay, medications prescribed, pathology and diagnostic imaging information and follow-up actions recommended.
Latrobe Regional Health Chief Executive, Don McRae, is excited about the potential benefits the project brings to the community.
“We believe it will provide our patients with a seamless experience as they transition from acute hospital care back into their community,” Mr McRae said.
“And it will improve the safety and quality of their care by providing comprehensive, accurate and timely information about care they have received in our hospital to their GP to help plan and support their ongoing recovery.”
GHA plans to continue to improve the quality of discharge documentation across Gippsland hospitals, and further work is already underway to ensure continued progress and improvement of the discharge summaries produced in the EMR.
