Study reveals hospital information gap -GS Mudur

-The Telegraph

Shortcoming to affect follow-up care

Only a fourth of patients with chronic diseases who attend government clinics in India receive all the key information they need for future follow-up care by other doctors, a study has suggested.

Only 24 per cent of the outpatient clinic documents the study screened mentioned all four pieces of key information: the diagnosis, prescribed medication, long-term care instructions and follow-up information.

The study found that 32 per cent -– nearly one in three -– did not mention the medications prescribed.

Public health researchers participating in the study, the first systematic assessment of health-care communication in Indian government clinics, assessed over 500 treatment sheets given to patients in five health-care facilities in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh.

“The transfer of patients’ information from one doctor or hospital to the next is critical, particularly so in India where many patients may not always be able to convey information,” said Shifalika Goenka of the Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi.

In medical circles, this information transfer is called “clinical handover” and is particularly crucial to the care of chronic, non-communicable disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, longstanding respiratory disorders and kidney disease.

The study has also found that the health-care information provided to the patients is often poorly recorded on unstructured sheets of paper. Just over half the patients recalled receiving verbal information on both medication and follow-up care.

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