Improving paper-based discharge process; a continuous full-cycle quality improvement project in low resource setting

Background: The moment of hospital discharge is a time for vulnerability for many patients and might jeopardize their safety. We found that the current structure of the discharge card at Soba University Hospital (SUH) does not improve the quality of the discharge summary. This hinders the delivery of valid, relevant and adequate health information and can negatively affect outpatient care.   Methods: We implemented a new discharge card design with structured headings at the Department of Medicine at Soba University Hospital from the beginning of March to April 15 th , 2017.  This was coupled with educational sessions highlighting the problems that might occur if there were gaps in patient transition from inpatient to outpatient. Results: There was a significant improvement in documentation of the majority (>90%) of the items, including name, age, source of admission treating doctor, diagnosis and medication, but there was a drop in documentation of comorbidities. We also noticed that the new discharge summary format significantly improved the documentation of the majority of the headings (all P values were <0.001), yet, there was a drop in documentation of comorbidities and dates for follow up. Conclusions: Recording of paper-based health records like discharge summaries could be substantially improved by use of well-structured formats and practical training sessions. Improvement is a dynamic process. Some gaps might appear during execution, these need monitoring and continuous improvement to establish sustainability.