title: [Clarity of recommendations for patients in the hospital discharge report].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recommendations for patients (RP) are one of the key parts of the hospital discharge report (HDR). The objective was to study the frequency of RP in the HDR of different specialties and the proportion of them considered to be easy to understand.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational and cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  General acute care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of a sample of HDR, analysis of the frequency and types of PR based on their content and clarity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 840 HDR and 2,097 PR were analysed with an average of 2.5 RP per report. The most common RP referred to the patient follow-up (46% of total), followed by specific recommendations for the days immediately following discharge (37%), with only 16% related to lifestyle. Reports by surgical specialties contained 3.2 RP compared to 2.3 in medical specialties. The large majority (90.3%) of the RP were considered clear to understand for a standard patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HDR analysed contained few RP, in particular those related to lifestyles. A substantial proportion of the RP were not expressed with enough clarity.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Evaluación, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, España. ajpuente@hcs.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Puente
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lara-Blanquer
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benítez-Parejo
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: García-Díaz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Alegría
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare; D003144:Communication Barriers; D032882:Comprehension; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008019:Life Style; D008511:Medicine; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013030:Spain