Download HOW TO write a good discharge summary

Jason Haag
Intern Conference
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Plan ahead

Use Resident Assistants to
 Make follow up appointments
 On WebCis f/u lists
 Fax discharge summaries/patient information

Plan ahead

Talk to your patient
 How do they pay for meds?
 Who is going to pick them out?
 How long will the hospital stay be?
 Who do they live with at home?
 Do they have home health/home PT already in place?
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Start your discharge summary
Can put in procedures
 Secondary diagnosis
 Follow up appointments
 Pertinent labs
 Start the hospital course

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Brief Discharge Summary

Most important take home message to patients
 Diagnosis
 what you have/had done
 Medications
 ***reconciled with home list***
 Discharge instructions
 What to do/what to look out for
 Follow up appointments
 Does not have to be exact date

Talk with Social Worker


Be very nice to these people…
About
 Ride
 They can provide one (ambulance, taxi, bus)
 Medications
 They can help pay for them (pharm assistance)
 Home Health/Home PT
 They can arrange it

Talk with the Nurses


Keep them in the loop
Nurses will provide
 Patient education
 How do I administer lovenox, do accuchecks?
 They will decipher your discharge summary into
patient talk
 Make sure they understand what’s going on with the
patient

Talk with Home Infusion

Talk early and often

They provide home IV therapy
 Can arrange IV therapy on Saturday
 Can arrange acute changes in antibiotic choice
 IF they know about the patient ahead of time

Communicate with PCP


Don’t have to call
Send phone message with dx/tx
 Not a novel (they can read your d/c summary), just
give them a heads up

TALK WITH THE PATIENT!!!!!!!!!


They will have questions that they want their doctor
to answer
The more time you put in early in the day answering
questions will save you later
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Key Points



Carry over all diagnosis
Reconcile medication list
Procedures/imaging
 No need to list every CXR, KUB

Pertinent Labs
 Admission Chem-10, CBC
 Special labs

Hospital Course

List by problems
 Overview of hospitalization
 Not on HD#1…then on HD#2…


Express the maximum amount of information in the
minimum amount of space
Be clear, concise, and coherent
 The longer it is, the less likely someone is to read it

Must do Brief Discharge Summary

To dictate or not to dictate


+/- of dictation
If you start falling behind
They will find you…
 Medical Records keeps a log of physician of record and
will track you down for delinquent d/c summaries

 If you are too delinquent they won’t let you work (i.e. won’t
pay you) till your caught up