Is email an effective method for hospital discharge communication? A randomized controlled trial to examine delivery of computer-generated discharge summaries by email, fax, post and patient hand delivery

International Journal of Medical Informatics
Yufei ChenFarah Magrabi

Abstract

To examine the effectiveness of delivering of computer-generated discharge summaries to general practice by email, fax, post and patient hand delivery. Blinded, randomized controlled trial. A pre-study audit ascertaining baseline statistics and a follow-up survey were conducted with general practice to determine preferred medium for receiving discharge communication. 196 geriatric patients who were admitted to the aged care ward of a 300-bed metropolitan teaching hospital. Twenty-eight patients were lost to follow-up and 52 general practices participated in the final survey. The pre-study audit followed 63 discharges from the same ward. 168 eligible patients were randomly assigned to have their electronic discharge summary sent by email (n=40), fax (n=48), post (n=40) or patient hand delivery (n=40). Receipt of discharge summary by the general practice clinic within 7 days of patient discharge from hospital. The receipt rates for email (73.9%, n=17) and fax were comparable (69.4%, n=25; chi(2)=0.137, df=1, P=0.712), and significantly higher (chi(2)=19.86, df=3, P<0.0002) than post (43.8%, n=14) and patient hand delivery (24.2%, n=8). General practices indicated that fax was the most preferred method (82.7%) for communication of...Continue Reading

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