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Ergonomics & Human factors 2018
Archives of Medicine
ISSN: 1989-5216
Page 46
July 26-27, 2018
Rome, Italy
1
st
Edition of International Conference on
Ergonomics &
Human Factors
Background:
The acute medical teams in University Hospital
Limerick transitioned last year from a handwritten proforma
system of composing discharge letters to an electronic system
(EPMS).
Aim:
This project aimed to assess the quality of information on
EPMS letters, compared to handwritten letters.
Standards:
To quantify the quality of information, two key areas
were assessed – presence of a discharge letter, and presence of a
list of discharge medication (HSE Code of Practice for Integrated
Discharge Planning, 2014).
Methods:
Using the hospital inpatient manager software, all
the patients discharged from acute medical unit consultants
in February of 2018 were identified. The EPMS system was
used to locate the electronic discharge letters of these patients
and compared to the standards. The patients discharged from
February of 2017 were identified (before the introduction of
electronic discharge letters) and the handwritten letters compared
to the standards. Both the electronic and handwritten discharge
letter groups were compared.
Results:
Discharge letters were present in 86.7% of the electronic
group vs 75% of the handwritten group. List of medications were
present in 40%of electronic group’s letters vs 100%of handwritten
group’s letters.
Conclusions/Action Plan:
A system of electronic records
increased the percentage of letters being written/sent/
stored compared with handwritten letters. However, quality of
information regarding medications suffered. This is likely in part
as handwritten letters were written on the ward with patient’s
prescription there, whereas electronic letters were being written
in the office at the end of the day with no drug chart available.
Discharge letters from wards where EPMS was available on
computers had higher likelihood of having correct medication
information. EPMS will be made available on every ward and data
reassessed in six months time.
Biography
Jordan E Hilton graduated fromTrinity College Dublin School of Medicine in
2014. He is currently pursuing basic specialist training in General Medicine
with the Royal College of Physicians, Republic of Ireland. He was conferred
as a Member of this college in April 2018. He is also working as a Medical
Senior House Officer at University Hospital Limerick.
ejordan@tcd.ieTransition from handwritten to electronic medical discharge
letters: quantifying differences to information quality
Jordan E Hilton
and
D Linnane S
University Hospital Limerick, Republic of Ireland
Jordan E Hilton et al., Arch Med 2018, Volume 10
DOI: 10.21767/1989-5216-C1-003