Congratulations to our Information Services department for their big win in the Innovations in Health Care Expo!
The Innovations in Health Care Expo showcases some of the leading initiatives driving innovation in Ontario's health care system and presents an opportunity for health care workers to share knowledge and generate ideas for new approaches to improve health care delivery.
The 2010 Innovations in Health Care Awards are presented in recognition of outstanding innovation in six designated categories. This year's winner in the category of "Improving Integration" is:
Sunnybrook Innovation: electronic discharge summaries
Family physicians now receive electronically generated discharge summaries from Sunnybrook that are standardized, have comprehensive content, and are clear and easy to read. Read more about this innovation
The purpose of a hospital discharge summary is to communicate the details of a patient's hospital stay to the primary caregiver, thereby facilitating continuity of care. After patients are discharged, follow-up care is usually provided by a family physician (rather than the hospital-based physician), who may not have participated in the care process during hospitalization.
Timely communication of discharge summaries at Sunnybrook was an issue as days to weeks transpired before summaries were completed and mailed to referring family physicians. Research showed the quality of discharge summaries significantly decreased when the delay from patient discharge to when the summary was available increased.
The development of an electronic discharge summary has alleviated these shortcomings, creating opportunities to improve quality and safety of care for discharged patients. Family physicians now receive electronically generated discharge summaries from Sunnybrook that are standardized, have comprehensive content, and are clear and easy to read.
Learn more about the awards.
