Inpatient discharge summary redesign: Seeing the admission through the primary team’s eyes
Care Process & Redesign
National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals
National University Health System
31 December 2022
Improve the quality and completion rate of inpatient discharge summaries (DS). Structured training and audits successfully improved DS quality, benefiting care transitions and coding.
Year Submitted: 2022
Published Date: 31 December 2022
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Quality Improvement, Workflow Redesign, Job Effectiveness, Value Based Care, Discharge Planning
About this Content
Aims
Improve the quality and completion rate of inpatient discharge summaries (DS).
Background
Only 21% of DS were complete, causing issues in care continuity, clinical coding, and discharge efficiency.
Methods
Conducted audits, introduced e-learning modules, interactive teaching sessions, and DS templates; implemented DS vetting.
Results
Quality DS increased from 21% to 80%; senior vetting rate rose from 27% to 50%; discharges before noon improved by 4-5%.
Conclusion
Structured training and audits successfully improved DS quality, benefiting care transitions and coding.
Lessons Learnt
Regular training, senior involvement, and DS audits are essential for sustained improvements.
Keywords
Discharge Summary, Quality Improvement, Workflow Optimization, Documentation Standards
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | National University Health System |
Organization(s) Involved | National University Hospital |
Platform(s) | National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Healthcare Administration, Medical |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Healthcare Administrators |
Project Lead(s) | Chua Chun En |
Project Member(s) | Desmond Teo |
Connect with this contributor!
Chua Chun En - chun_en_chua@nuhs.edu.sg
Project Attachment
C_261_NUH_NHIP_2022_Inpatient_discharge_summary_redesign.pdf