Improving patient discharge… and writing good discharge summaries

 Writing discharge summaries might not be the most exciting part of the job, but it's certainly a very important one. It's a critical piece in the transfer of care from hospital to the GP or other health service.In this episode, you'll hear about how to write a good discharge summary from the perspective of an intern who regularly writes them, as well as a GP who regularly receives them. When done well, a discharge summary can help patients stay out of hospital;, enabling general practitioners to best follow the appropriate care plan.However, many in the medical profession would probably agree, the entire discharge process could be improved to allow for better sharing of information and cooperation between health services. Therefore, this episode’s guests discuss what needs to be done to make the discharge system more efficient, as well as some of the changes that are already being implemented to discharge summaries across the Gippsland health services network, following a recent improvement project.Guests:Dr Tom Kefford - GP in Warragul, VIC and Medical Educator with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.Dr David McAlpine - medical intern in the Gippsland Rural Intern Training program, run through Latrobe Regional Health in Gippsland.Jared Slater -  Manager of Digital, Data and Insights at Gippsland Primary Health Network.—For more information about the study and training opportunities across regional Victoria, head to the Monash Rural Health website.The North West Victoria and Gippsland Regional Training Hubs have commissioned this podcast to help medical students and junior doctors learn more about training and practising medicine in regional Australia.  Find your nearest Regional Training Hub here.