To ensure a nationally consistent approach to achieving accurate, concise and well-designed electronic discharge summaries (EDS), The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has released the national guidelines for presentation of electronic discharge summaries (Guidelines).
The development of the Guidelines was informed by extensive stakeholder consultation across acute care and primary care settings. Recognising the critical patient safety risks at hospital discharge, the Guidelines have been revised from the previous 2017 edition to include updated recommendations including:
- Re-ordering of EDS components: ‘Recommendations’ for follow up by primary care provider now moved towards the top of the EDS.
- Incorporating Principles for safe, high-quality transitions of care.
- Greater alignment with national digital health initiatives.
- National Healthcare Identifiers, SNOMED CT-AU (including AMT), Australian Core Data for Interoperability.
- Additional guidance for health services and clinicians to distinguish between responsibilities.
- Clarification of components that were reported as ambiguous (e.g. alerts).
Visit safetyandquality.gov.au/EDSS or email acsqhcdigitalhealth@safetyandquality.gov.au for more information.