title: [The information about discharge medication: what do general practitioners need?].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The information about the patient's discharge medication (DM) in the discharge letter guarantees the subsequent pharmacotherapy at the interface between tertiary to primary care. International data however shows that general practitioners (GPs) receive discharge letters with a delay and relevant information about DM is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the point of view of German GPs concerning the information about DM, since no recent data about this topic is available.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a postal survey 516 GPs in the city of Berlin were contacted and asked about the transit of discharge letters and the information about DM. Results | 117 GPs answered the questionnaire (23 %). Most frequently, the patient himself handed over the information about DM to the GP on the day of his first visit in the practice after discharge. However, more than two third of GPs wished to receive the information before the patient's first consultation (73 %). Therefore, the majority preferred the electronic communication via fax (46 %) or email (9 %). Almost half of the GPs stated that discharge letters were lacking information about changes in medication and reasons for these changes. At the same time, nearly all GPs thought that these informational aspects were important.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GPs wish an early and electronic transit of the DM with information concerning changes in medication and reasons. If these wishes were considered, a continuous and thus safer pharmacotherapy at the interface could be guaranteed.
authors.affiliation: Arzneimittelkommission der deutschen Ärzteschaft, Berlin.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.affiliation: Arzneimittelkommission der deutschen Ärzteschaft, Berlin.
authors.forename: Wilhelm-Bernhard
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Niebling
authors.affiliation: Arzneimittelkommission der deutschen Ärzteschaft, Berlin.
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schott
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D063886:Patient Discharge Summaries / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data