Good communication between inpatient and outpatient
physicians at the transition from hospital to
home is critical to patient safety. However, the amount
and complexity of information that must be relayed at
hospital discharge are often overwhelming. Unfortunately, when communication breaks down, patients are at risk: More than half of all preventable adverse events occurring soon after hospital discharge have been related to poor communication among providers (1). Recently, the challenges to high-quality transitions of care have been increasingly recognized (2), and several factors may be contributing to communication failures at discharge. Although the introduction of hospitalist programs across the United States has produced positive results (3–5), the discontinuity of care inherent in the hospitalist
model increases the likelihood of communication failures and makes thorough communication at discharge essential (6). Discontinuity is also an issue in teaching hospitals, where physicians-in-training may be responsible for some or all of the communication at discharge and, under new work-hour restrictions, may frequently change services or work in shifts. Whatever the cause, discontinuity of care at the inpatient-to-outpatient transition has been shown to be
associated with medical errors (7). Among these errors is a failure to follow up on the results of laboratory tests and radiologic studies that return after discharge.
Although timely follow-up on test results has receive
Good communication between inpatient and outpatient physicians at the transition from hospital tohome is critical to patient safety. However, the amountand complexity of information that must be relayed athospital discharge are often overwhelming. Unfortunately, when communication breaks down, patients are at risk: More than half of all preventable adverse events occurring soon after hospital discharge have been related to poor communication among providers (1). Recently, the challenges to high-quality transitions of care have been increasingly recognized (2), and several factors may be contributing to communication failures at discharge. Although the introduction of hospitalist programs across the United States has produced positive results (3–5), the discontinuity of care inherent in the hospitalistmodel increases the likelihood of communication failures and makes thorough communication at discharge essential (6). Discontinuity is also an issue in teaching hospitals, where physicians-in-training may be responsible for some or all of the communication at discharge and, under new work-hour restrictions, may frequently change services or work in shifts. Whatever the cause, discontinuity of care at the inpatient-to-outpatient transition has been shown to beassociated with medical errors (7). Among these errors is a failure to follow up on the results of laboratory tests and radiologic studies that return after discharge.Although timely follow-up on test results has receive
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