Design and Hospitalwide Implementation of a Standardized Discharge Summary in an Electronic Health Record.

BACKGROUND: The hospital discharge summary is the primary method used to communicate a patient's plan of care to the next provider(s). Despite the existence of regulations and guidelines outlining the optimal content for the discharge summary and its importance in facilitating an effective transition to posthospital care, incomplete discharge summaries remain a common problem that may contribute to poor posthospital outcomes. Electronic health records (EHRs) are regularly used as a platform on which standardization of content and format can be implemented. The feasibility of designing and implementing a standardized discharge summary hospitalwide using an EHR was examined-to the authors' knowledge, for the first time. METHODS: This large-scale project at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics was led by a task force that had been assembled to develop best practices for EHR notes. The evidence-based Replicating Effective Programs (REP) model was employed to guide the development and implementation during the project. REP outlines four stages in clinical health service intervention implementation: preconditions, preimplementation, implementation, and maintenance. RESULTS: At 18 months postimplementation, 90% of all hospital discharge summaries were written using the standardized format. Hospital providers found the template helpful and easy to use, and recipient providers perceived an improvement in the quality of discharge summaries compared to those previously sent from the hospital. CONCLUSION: Discharge summaries can be standardized and implemented hospitalwide with both author and recipient provider satisfaction, particularly if evidence-based implementation strategies are employed. The use of EHR tools to guide clinicians in writing comprehensive discharge summaries holds promise in improving the existing deficits in communication at transitions of care.

Evaluating the Usability of an Emergency Department After Visit Summary: Staged Heuristic Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Heuristic evaluations, while commonly used, may inadequately capture the severity of identified usability issues. In the domain of health care, usability issues can pose different levels of risk to patients. Incorporating diverse expertise (eg, clinical and patient) in the heuristic evaluation process can help assess and address potential negative impacts on patient safety that may otherwise go unnoticed. One document that should be highly usable for patients-with the potential to prevent adverse outcomes-is the after visit summary (AVS). The AVS is the document given to a patient upon discharge from the emergency department (ED), which contains instructions on how to manage symptoms, medications, and follow-up care. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess a multistage method for integrating diverse expertise (ie, clinical, an older adult care partner, and health IT) with human factors engineering (HFE) expertise in the usability evaluation of the patient-facing ED AVS. METHODS: We conducted a three-staged heuristic evaluation of an ED AVS using heuristics developed for use in evaluating patient-facing documentation. In stage 1, HFE experts reviewed the AVS to identify usability issues. In stage 2, 6 experts of varying expertise (ie, emergency medicine physicians, ED nurses, geriatricians, transitional care nurses, and an older adult care partner) rated each previously identified usability issue on its potential impact on patient comprehension and patient safety. Finally, in stage 3, an IT expert reviewed each usability issue to identify the likelihood of successfully addressing the issue. RESULTS: In stage 1, we identified 60 usability issues that violated a total of 108 heuristics. In stage 2, 18 additional usability issues that violated 27 heuristics were identified by the study experts. Impact ratings ranged from all experts rating the issue as "no impact" to 5 out of 6 experts rating the issue as having a "large negative impact." On average, the older adult care partner representative rated usability issues as being more significant more of the time. In stage 3, 31 usability issues were rated by an IT professional as "impossible to address," 21 as "maybe," and 24 as "can be addressed." CONCLUSIONS: Integrating diverse expertise when evaluating usability is important when patient safety is at stake. The non-HFE experts, included in stage 2 of our evaluation, identified 23% (18/78) of all the usability issues and, depending on their expertise, rated those issues as having differing impacts on patient comprehension and safety. Our findings suggest that, to conduct a comprehensive heuristic evaluation, expertise from all the contexts in which the AVS is used must be considered. Combining those findings with ratings from an IT expert, usability issues can be strategically addressed through redesign. Thus, a 3-staged heuristic evaluation method offers a framework for integrating context-specific expertise efficiently, while providing practical insights to guide human-centered design.

BedsideNotes: Sharing Physicians' Notes With Parents During Hospitalization.

OBJECTIVES: Physicians increasingly share ambulatory visit notes with patients to meet new federal requirements, and evidence suggests patient experiences improve without overburdening physicians. Whether sharing inpatient notes with parents of hospitalized children yields similar outcomes is unknown. In this pilot study, we evaluated parent and physician perceptions of sharing notes with parents during hospitalization. METHODS: Parents of children aged <12 years admitted to a hospitalist service at a tertiary children's hospital in April 2019 were offered real-time access to their child's admission and daily progress notes on a bedside inpatient portal (MyChart Bedside). Upon discharge, ambulatory OpenNotes survey items assessed parent and physician (attendings and interns) perceptions of note sharing. RESULTS: In all, 25 parents and their children's discharging attending and intern physicians participated. Parents agreed that the information in notes was useful and helped them remember their child's care plan (100%), prepare for rounds (96%), and feel in control (91%). Although many physicians (34%) expressed concern that notes would confuse parents, no parent reported that notes were confusing. Some physicians perceived that they spent more time writing and/or editing notes (28%) or that their job was more difficult (15%). Satisfaction with sharing was highest among parents (100%), followed by attendings (81%) and interns (35%). CONCLUSIONS: Parents all valued having access to physicians' notes during their child's hospital stay; however, some physicians remained concerned about the potential negative consequences of sharing. Comparative effectiveness studies are needed to evaluate the effect of note sharing on outcomes for hospitalized children, families, and staff.

Parent Perspectives on Pediatric Inpatient OpenNotes.

INTRODUCTION: 169 U.S. health systems now engage in OpenNotes: a movement to share clinical notes with patients. Few studies have focused on releasing notes during hospitalization, pediatrics, or parents/caregiver perspectives. METHODS: A focus group was conducted with eight parents with experience caring for a hospitalized child at a Midwest children's hospital. In the 2-hour session, parents were asked about their perspectives of the idea of sharing inpatient doctors' daily notes with parents during their child's hospitalization. Qualitative analysis was conducted to elicit themes related to the potential benefits and challenges of sharing inpatient notes. RESULTS: The most mentioned benefits included notes providing information as a reference for improved family education/understanding, communication/continuity, and advocacy/empowerment. Challenges were primarily related to note content, impaired communication and negative impact on families. CONCLUSION: Participants identified multiple potential benefits of and challenges to sharing notes with parents during their child's hospitalization but also acknowledged the impact on healthcare professionals who work alongside them.