[Patient discharge form in primary care (II): views and level of satisfaction of family doctors]. / El informe de alta hospitalaria en atención primaria (II): opiniones y satisfacción de los médicos de familia.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the opinion and satisfaction shown by a sample of primary care (PC) doctors about the patient discharge form (PDF) and to assess proposals for improvement. Design. Descriptive study of the result of a questionnaire. SETTING: All the health districts in the city of Mataró (Barcelona).Participants. 37 PC doctors treating adults out of a total of 43 (86% participation). METHOD: Written questionnaire, self-answered and anonymous, filled in after a brief introduction. RESULTS: 73% of those surveyed were <> - <> with the PDF. 82.9% valued it positively as a nexus of union between PC and hospital. 38.9% of these did not obtain a response consonant with their prior expectations. The written comprehension and expression on medical PDFs was considered better than on surgical ones. The amount of information was <> from 70.3% of medical doctors as against 40.5% of surgeons. The filling-in of the various sections of the PDF were mainly valued as <> - <> (better in medical than surgical doctors). Most evaluated the information provided as <> - <>, mainly in the medical PDF. The main changes to be introduced refer to the treatment, post-discharge follow-up and the omission of social-health and nursing questions.

CONCLUSIONS:

A high percentage of those surveyed value the PDF highly as a nexus linking PC and Hospital, despite finding faults in the information contained. The PDF could become more useful if there was more dialogue between doctors at the two care levels.