title: The SignOut Discharge Summary System: using workflow byproducts to pre-populate and assemble discharge summaries.
abstract: At the time of hospital discharge, communication between inpatient and outpatient physicians is poor. Multiple studies demonstrate that discharge summaries, a means of improving information exchange between inpatient and outpatient providers, are frequently not available to the outpatient provider at the time of the post discharge visit. We have constructed a web-based solution for generating discharge summaries, SignOut Discharge Summary System (SDSS) which uses the workflow byproduct of SignOut data to pre-populate summaries, a post-discharge preparation module to ensure quality, a discharge edit module to designate accurate discharge summary assignment, and integration with HIM. SDSS had 1130 unique users in a recent period and captured signout information for 75% of hospitalized patients. The system has generated 78740 D/C summaries for 17 specialties since going live July 2005. Overall SDSS is responsible for 69% of all hospital discharge summaries and SDSS discharge summaries on average are available 1.91 days after discharge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Technology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY, NY, USA. joseph.kannry@mountsinai.org
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kannry
authors.forename: Preetham
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bilumane
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation / Q000379:methods*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008330:Management Audit; D009519:New York City; D010351:Patient Discharge; D057188:Workflow