Medical Staff

Effective transition at hospital discharge

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, October 24, 2007

An October 12 article published in The Journal of Hospital Medicine put the spotlight on the importance of adequate patient discharge procedures and the role of the hospitalist.

About half of adults experience a medical error after hospital discharge, and 19% to 23% suffer an adverse event, most commonly an adverse drug event, the article said.
Most often those errors are cause by the discontinuity between hospitalists and primary care physicians, changes to the medication regimen, new self-care responsibilities that may stress available resources, and complex discharge instructions, according to the article.

To read about other challenges and how hospitalists could significantly reduce medical errors in the post-discharge period, click here.

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