Medical Informatics Assignment 2 Patient Discharge System By King Ken Law Philip McCormac Edel Hughes

Introduction What is the patient discharge system? The purpose of the system How the system works Pros and cons of the system Conclusion

How the Discharge system fits in with other Main Systems

What is the patient discharge system? Discharge system records admission, audit and expected date of discharge information Form (electronic or manual) completed by discharge co-ordinator Patient details, arrival date, admission date Expected date of discharge

Manual Discharge Form

Computerized form

The purpose of the system Co-ordination of discharge planning, identifies anticipated length of stay Used as predictor for effective bed management Provides list of expected discharges on a shift basis: Patient informed Medication counselling Transport GP or District nurse informed

Purpose continued Consolidates information such as medication and aftercare measures Generates a letter to go back to the patient’s GP, or district nurse providing information on discharge Medical research Performance assessment Comparative analysis

How does the system work? GP referral – PAS finds patient number or assigns a new one. Secretary checks details Form and estimated date of discharge note Treatment On discharge – two options  Use discharge system on pc  Use hand written doc and pass to coding

Coding Each morning staff in the Coding department print off the discharges completed the day before. They will visit the ward and get patient records for any further supplementary coding The information is brought back and put on the discharge system and PAS. It is then passed to the consultant for final verification. Verification can be carried out by the consultant using a PC or by coding department returning form as a GP discharge letter.

Advantages of Coding Department to Doctors Doctors do not need to know ICD10 (Diagnosis) or OPCS4 (procedure) codes but rather provide as text. The minimum information such as primary diagnosis and procedure and the coding team will pick up the rest and assign the appropriate codes on PAS

Pros and cons of the system Pros If the consultant uses a computer instead of the discharge form, a list of patients to be coded can be easily generated – saving time.

Pros and Cons of the system Cons Have to look up big books for codes – time consuming Have to enter codes into the discharge system and PAS separately – tedious work and repetitive entry prone to human error Coders must still go and get patient notes from relevant ward.

Conclusion The current system works but is flawed Many different systems in operation at once Systems do not share data forcing data to be entered multiple times Many improvments possible such as computerised searching for ICD10 codes instead of thick books