The quality of discharge letters has been evaluated in order to initiate a process of improved communications between the hospital and general practitioners. From each of 37 volunteer clinical departments of a French university hospital, a random sample of 30 stays was selected among the hospitalisations for one year. The quality of discharge letters was assessed according to recipients’ needs and to French legislation. In total, 1,024 medical records were relevant and were analysed. This study showed deficiencies in management of discharge letters in the hospital. It constitutes the first step of a quality improvement process based on the awareness of concerned actors through information feedback and the follow‐up of specific indicators.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.