Introduction:
The transition from inpatient medical care to the outpatient setting is
a high risk time for patients and relies heavily on communication and
coordination of medical care across multiple settings1-4. Studies have shown that patients who receive
follow-up medical care within the first 30-days following hospital
discharge have decreased readmission rates, decreased health care costs,
and improved medical adherence and satisfaction 4-6.
However, literature shows that communication between hospital physicians
and primary care providers (PCP) occurs infrequently (only 3%-20%) and
only 56% of PCPs were satisfied with communication with hospitalists2,3,7-12. Improvements in provider satisfaction have
been seen with the utilization of pre-formatted electronic
communication, computer generated discharge summaries, and standardized
processes to improve the coordination of care1-3,11,13-16. Our quality improvement project was
undertaken after it was observed that there was no standardized process
for scheduling a patient’s PCP follow-up appointment at the time of
hospital discharge, causing increase burden of workload for the resident
and leading to dissatisfaction. Our aim was to improve resident
satisfaction rating of the post-hospitalization PCP follow-up process by
10% over the course of nine months, without increasing resident
perception of workload or burden.