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Fumbled handoffs can lead to medical errors
Date:8/7/2009

INDIANAPOLIS Poor communication of the outcomes of medical tests whose results are pending at the time of a patient's hospital discharge is common and can lead to serious medical errors in post-hospitalization medical treatment.

A new study by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine has found that hospital discharge summaries are grossly inadequate at documenting both tests with pending results and information about which doctors should receive the post-discharge test results. The findings appear in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

During a hospital stay tests are ordered by emergency department physicians, generalists, specialists, hospitalists and other medical staff. Test results such as those indicating positive blood culture, uncontrolled thyroid or declining kidney function can require post-discharge treatment but results of some tests may not be ready for weeks after the patient leaves the hospital. Most patients are unaware that test results are pending.

The new JGIM study identified 668 hospital discharges with pending test results. The researchers analyzed the discharge summaries and found them deficient.

  • Although all the patients had pending test results - only 16 percent of the 2,927 tests with pending results were mentioned in the discharge summaries
  • Only 67 percent of discharge summaries indicated which primary care outpatient doctor was responsible for following up with the patient after discharge.

Since the researchers looked retrospectively at the discharge summaries, they were able to see if test results reported after discharge called for a change in the patient treatment plan or management.

"We found that a huge number -- 72 percent -- of test results requiring treatment change were not mentioned in discharge summaries. So an outpatient provider likely would not even have known
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Contact: Cindy Fox Aisen
caisen@iupui.edu
317-274-7722
Indiana University
Source:Eurekalert  

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