Providing critical care patients with a personalised discharge summary: A questionnaire survey and retrospective analysis exploring feasibility and effectiveness

Objectives
This paper reports on the potential value and feasibility of providing patients with a personalised discharge summary of their critical care stay.
Design and methods
Fifty-one patient discharge summaries, written by nurses during a randomised controlled trial, were retrospectively analysed for readability, structure and quality. A questionnaire survey completed by trial patients (n=42), their relatives (n=21) and nurses (n=170) explored user experience and feasibility. Quantitative questionnaire data were analysed descriptively and inferentially; qualitative data were subjected to content analysis.
Results
Most completed summaries achieved at least an average readability score and were of an acceptable quality. Motivation, time constraints and competing priorities were identified as key barriers to writing an effective summary; however, in the majority of cases, writing them had taken less than 15 minutes. Questionnaire data support that patient discharge summaries can help patients, relatives and ward nurses better understand and patients accept, what happened in critical care.
Conclusion
Patient discharge summaries are likely to be a useful adjunct to existing discharge information, but further work is required to determine when and how they should be provided. With appropriate training and support, it is feasible for nurses to write discharge summaries in a busy critical care environment.