A REPEAT AUDIT OF HOSPITAL DISCHARGE LETTERS IN PATIENTS ADMITTED WITH ACUTE ASTHMA

Subsequent to the implementation of recommendations om a previous audi t of acute asthma admission discharge letters from om our specialist r espiratory unit, a repeat audit of typed discharge letters of 86 patie nts (33 male, mean age 29 SD 9 years) admitted with acute asthma to th e same unit over a 12 month period was performed. There was significan t improvement in the discharge letter documentation of precipitating f actors (p<0.001), previous admissions with acute asthma (p<0.01), admi ssion arterial blood gas analysis (p<0.001), admission peak flow rates (p<0.05), discharge peak flow rates (p<0.001), corticosteroid (p<0.01 ) and inhaled beta 2 agonist (p<0.01) prescription on discharge and on the specification of inhaler delivery device on discharge (p<0.001). No significant differences in discharge letters were found in the docu mentation of acute therapy or post discharge follow up plan. The impro vement in discharge letter quality was attributed to closing the feed back loop from the previous audit though continuing deficiencies in di scharge letter contents have been identified again. These deficiencies need to be rectified and the results reaudited.