Thread by @GraceCordovano

Dear #hospitals:

Your discharge planning sets #patients up for failure. How? Let me explain (again, & again, & again). #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability #PatientAdvocacy #medtwitter #GMDD #hcldr

Photo Credit: Rob Potter (Unsplash)

1)Follow up appts, essential to a patient’s health & recovery, are listed as part of the discharge summary. These appts are recommended to be scheduled within 7-10 days. To be best prepared, patients need their records. #healthcare #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #GMDD #medtwitter

2)All records from a patient's hospital admission should be AUTOMATICALLY sent to every listed follow-up physician. Hospitals, you know which drs patients need to see; it’s listed in the discharge plans. This step needs to be embedded in the workflow #PtExp #EHR #interoperability

3)Requiring patients to go to the med records dept (in the basement of a building, 3 or 4 buildings away…AKA not even remotely convenient) to fill out a paper form for every dr they will be following up with is unacceptable. Why? #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability

4)Not every patient has the capacity to walk that far. Someone who is a fall risk, elderly, recovering from procedure/surgery, in pain, exhausted & in midst of post-admission hospital delirium should not be expected to do this. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability

5)#Carepartners very rarely leave their loved ones while they are in the hospital. Requiring them to make this trip when they should be focusing on the recovery, healing, & safety of their loved one is unacceptable. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability #medtwitter

6)The med records dept should be actively involved in discharge planning, with reps coming to the patient’s bedside to discuss where records need to go post-discharge. Releases could be easily electronically signed bedside. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability

7) No one should be manually entering the names of doctor’s & their contact info on a paper medical records request. This info is all electronically available. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability #AxeTheFax

8) Asking people to manually look up names, addresses, phone/fax #’s when internet service is practically null & void in hospital basements is a WASTE OF TIME. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability #AxeTheFax

9) Filling out the same medical records request form for every single physician that is involved in a patient’s care is redundant & a WASTE OF TIME. #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability #AxeTheFax

10)Telling people that after they have filled out all of the medical records requests that it could take up to 30 days to get their records to the follow-up specialists is a WASTE OF TIME. Records need to be there BEFORE pts get there. #PtExp #PtSafety #EHR #interoperability

11 ) W/O the records, follow up appts are a WASTE OF EVERYONE’S TIME. Patients are often unable to provide the meticulous details of their hospital stay or answer questions their drs may have. Drs won’t know the trajectory of the hospital admission.#PtExp #EHR #interoperability

12) Are we treatment planning for value & success? Or are we just pushing people out the door with empty discharge printouts? Hasn’t anyone noticed how royally we are dropping the ball here for millions & MILLIONS of people? #FAIL #PtExp #PtSafety #PtEng #EHR #interoperability

13) Please let me know if you have any questions. I'm ready to connect the dots & keep this conversation going & bring this insanity to an end. More insights here: theberylinstitute.org/blogpost/94742… #ABCD #GMDD #GSD #WTFix #hcldr #pinksocks