Use of Mobile Applications for Hospital Discharge Letters

Abstract

Handover of patient care is a time of particular risk and it is important that accurate and relevant information is clearly communicated. The hospital discharge letter is an important part of handover. However, the quality of hospital discharge letters is variable and letters frequently omit important information. The Cork Letter-Writing Assessment Scale (CLAS) checklist is an itemized checklist developed to improve the quality of discharge letters. The CLAS checklist, with an inbuilt scoring system, is available as the CLAS mobile application. Mobile applications offer an exciting opportunity for ‘point of practice' knowledge acquisition and are widely used by medical students. Content quality is integral to the success of educational mobile applications. In a recent study, the CLAS checklist improved the quality (content, structure and clarity) of discharge letters written by medical students. Though retention of these skills into the work-place and effects on patient safety have yet to be demonstrated, the development of standardized electronic discharge letters allows faster and safer transfer of information between healthcare providers and is a welcome advance. Using Near Field Communication for mobile applications to seamlessly transfer discharge letters between devices is another important feature.

A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis on the risks of medical discharge letters for patients’ safety

“… Completeness and timeliness of hospital discharge communication. Risk of delay Risk of lack of information Maher, Ireland (2013) [ 50 ] Use of mobile applications for hospital discharge letters - improving handover at point of practice. Experimental study (involving fourth-year medical students) ( N = 80).…”

“…It might be also useful for young doctors to use checklists or other structured procedures to improve writing [ 4 ]. Maher et al showed that the use of a checklist enhanced the quality (content, structure, and clarity) of medical discharge letters written by medical students [ 50 ].…”

A mobile application to support bedside nurse documentation and care: a time and motion study

“…Mobile devices provide many new opportunities and tools for patient care. 3 , 4 An EHR-connected application, for example, can provide the needed task list at timely moments, with real-time documentation. Also, entering data directly on the device could reduce potential transcriptions errors as well as delays in the availability of collected data.…”