General practitioners' perspectives on discharge summaries from a health network of three hospitals in South Australia

Abstract

Objectives To explore general practitioners' perspectives on the discharge summaries they receive about their patients who have been discharged from hospital. Methods A survey of general practitioners in the catchment of a major metropolitan South Australian health service consisting of three teaching hospitals was undertaken. Surveys were disseminated electronically and via hardcopy mailout to general practitioners. The 36-question survey focused on five constructs of discharge summaries: accessibility, length and clarity, format, transparency, and medicines content. Results A total of 150 general practitioners responded (response rate, 27.6%). Respondents were vocationally registered (96%), predominately from metropolitan practices (90.2%), and 65.8% were female. Overwhelmingly, 86.7% of general practitioners stated that the optimal time for receipt of discharge summaries was <48 h post-discharge, and 96.6% considered that late arrival of discharge summaries adversely impacts patient care. The ideal length of discharge summaries was reported as <4 pages by 64% of respondents. A large proportion of respondents (84.6%) would like to be notified when their patients are admitted and discharged from hospital, and 82.7% were supportive of patients receiving their own copy of the discharge summary. A total of 76.7% general practitioners reported that they had detected omissions or discrepancies in the discharge summaries. Provision of rationale for medication changes was viewed as important by 86.7%, however, only 29.3% reported that it is always or often communicated. Conclusions General practitioners supported timely receipt, concise length of discharge summary and format refinement to improve the utility and communication of this important clinical handover from hospital to community care.