No abstract

SUMMARYTo discover whether general practitioners are correctly notified of a patient's final diagnosis following hospital discharge, an observational study was undertaken in a district general hospital. The final diagnosis was compared with the diagnosis documented in the discharge summary and the take‐home prescription. Two hundred discharges were studied. Only 163 (81%) discharge summaries and 138 (69%) take‐home prescriptions had the correct diagnosis; 24 (12%) take‐home prescriptions did not have any diagnosis at all. In some cases the diagnosis differed between the discharge summaries and the take‐home prescriptions. Only in 122 (61%) cases was the final diagnosis correctly documented in both instances. Communication regarding diagnosis in discharge letters is less than adequate. Every effort should be made to improve this.

SUMMARYUpper gastrointestinal tract complications due to non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs are well recognised. However, adverse effects on large intestinal mucosa are less common and less well recognised, even though they carry a significant morbidity and mortality. Here we report a case of colonic perforation in a healthy woman without any underlying colonic pathology associated with ingestion of slow release diclofenac sodium. (Int J Clin Pract 2000; 54(5): 338‐339)