Page 33 - Hospitalists - Risks When You're the Doctor in the House (Part Two)

SVMIC Hospitalists - Risks When You’re the Doctor in the House

Delay in documentation is another problem. A study in the June

2016 Journal of Hospital Medicine found that taking more than
three days after discharge to complete summaries raised the

odds of a 30-day re-admission by nine percent, after adjusting
for several factors including patient page, illness severity, and

co-morbidities. The odds ratio increased another one percent
for every three additional days it took to complete summaries

and send them off.

Ideally, discharge summaries should be prepared the same
day as discharge. Unfortunately, hospitalists have lots of

responsibilities and duties and trying to prioritize all of these
while performing them all in a quality manner is absolutely

challenging.

Another frequent risk concerning discharged patients involves

pending test results. Note that the agreement to assume
follow-up duty on a test may be contractual. For example,

in cases where doctors work in shifts, such as emergency
medicine specialists and hospitalists, it may be written into your

employment contract or hospital protocol that the physician
who is on duty when a test report arrives is responsible for

following up on it, regardless of who ordered it. Even then, it’s
still a good idea to provide the incoming doctor with a list of

pending tests before leaving. See the following case study.

Page 33