Sandler D A, Mitchell J R
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham.
Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1987 Dec 12;295(6612):1523-5. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6612.1523.
All patients discharged from a medical ward during four months were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In one group the patients were given their interim discharge summary for delivery to their general practitioner by hand; in the other group the summary was posted by the hospital. Of the 289 summaries sent by either method, 279 (97%) arrived at the general practitioner's surgery. A mean (median) time of two (one) days elapsed before arrival when summaries were delivered by hand and a mean (median) of four and a half (four) days when they were posted; at least 55% of summaries delivered by hand arrived within one day of the day of discharge compared with 8% of those posted. If all interim discharge summaries were given to patients to deliver communication between hospitals and general practitioners would be accelerated and considerable savings might be made.
在四个月期间从内科病房出院的所有患者被随机分为两组。一组患者拿到临时出院小结后亲手交给他们的全科医生；另一组则由医院邮寄小结。通过这两种方式发送的289份小结中，有279份（97%）送到了全科医生诊所。亲手递交小结时，送达前平均（中位数）耗时两天（一天）；邮寄时平均（中位数）耗时四天半（四天）；亲手递交的小结中至少55%在出院当天起一天内送达，而邮寄的只有8%。如果所有临时出院小结都交给患者去传递，医院和全科医生之间的沟通将会加快，并且可能会节省大量费用。
