Discharge Communication PhD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of written discharge communication between hospital clinicians, GPs and patients
IRAS ID
219871
Contact name
Jeremy Dale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Warwick
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 21 days
Research summary
Discharge documents are important in transferring information from the hospital to the General Practitioner (GP). However, research has indicated a need for communication improvement in order to improve care, practitioner and patient satisfaction, and decrease rates of adverse patient outcomes.
The project comprises four studies around the research question, ‘should patients receive discharge communication, why and in what form?’ This question has stemmed from patient and GP involvement; they chose and refined the project research question.
Study1: Review of relevant literature.
Study2: Focus groups/interviews of GPs to gather their perspectives on patients receiving discharge communication. A sample of up to 700 anonymised discharge letters will be assessed for content. Letters will be selected by GPs based on what they deem to be “more successful” and “less successful” examples. The letter “successfulness” is to be decided by the GP dependent on their views and whether the letter conveys the information that the GP considers to be important to the patient’s discharge.
Study3: Semi-structured Interviews with patients on their views. All 700 patients included in letter sample from Study 2 invited to an interview.
Study4: Survey of hospital clinicians on their perspective, whether or not they currently copy patients into discharge communication, and why. All 700 practitioners who wrote the letters included in study 2 invited to survey.
The study draws on approaches from the fields of Linguistics and Health Sciences. Patient and practitioner involvement will be used throughout the project to aid in research decisions and result interpretation.
Data collection is intended to take place at GP practices or hospital sites or Warwick University. Home visits may be considered for patients who are unable to travel easily.
The project conclusions will indicate practicable solutions to improve discharge communication and hence inform guidelines for good practice.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0170
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion