%0 Journal Article
%T Patient-centered discharge summaries to support safety and individual health literacy: a double-blind randomized controlled trial in Austria.
%A Schwarz CM
%A Hoffmann M
%A Smolle C
%A Borenich A
%A Fürst S
%A Tuca AC
%A Holl AK
%A Gugatschka M
%A Grogger V
%A Kamolz LP
%A Sendlhofer G
%J BMC Health Serv Res
%V 24
%N 1
%D 2024 Jul 9
%M 38982360
%F 2.908
%R 10.1186/s12913-024-11183-w
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>To ensure a safe patient discharge from hospital it is necessary to transfer all relevant information in a discharge summary (DS). The aim of this study was to evaluate a bundle of measures to improve the DS for physicians, nurses and patients.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>In a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, four different versions of DS (2 original, 2 revised) were tested with physicians, nurses and patients. We used an evaluation sheet (Case report form, CRF) with a 6-point Likert scale (1 = completely agree; 6 = strongly disagree).<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>In total, 441 participants (physicians n = 146, nurses n = 140, patients n = 155) were included in the study. Overall, the two revised DS received significant better ratings than the original DS (original 2.8 ± 0.8 vs. revised 2.1 ± 0.9, p < 0.001). Detailed results for the main domains are structured DS (original 1.9 ± 0.9 vs. revised 2.2 ± 1.3, p = 0.015), content (original 2.7 ± 0.9 vs revised 2.0 ± 0.9, p < 0.001) and comprehensibility (original 3.8 ± 1.2vs. revised 2.3 ± 1.2, p < 0.001).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>With simple measures like avoiding abbreviations and describing indications or therapies with fixed contents, the DS can be significantly improved for physicians, nurses and patients at the same time.<BR><B>BACKGROUND: </B>First registration 13/11/2020 NCT04628728 at www.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>gov , Update 15/03/2023.