• James F Graumlich, Nancy L Novotny, Nace G Stephen GS, and Jean C Aldag.
• Department of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine and OSF-Saint Francis Medical Center, Peoria, Illinois, USA. jfg@uic.edu
• J Hosp Med. 2009 Jul 1; 4 (6): 356-63.

BackgroundHospital discharge software potentially improves communication and clinical outcomes.ObjectiveTo measure patient and physician perceptions after discharge with computerized physician order entry (CPOE) software.DesignCluster randomized controlled trial.SettingTertiary care, teaching hospital in central Illinois.PatientsA total of 631 inpatients discharged to home with high risk for readmission.InterventionA total of 70 internal medicine hospital physicians randomly assigned (allocation concealed) to discharge software vs. usual care, handwritten discharge.MeasurementsDischarge perceptions from patients, outpatient primary care physicians, and hospital physicians.ResultsOne week after discharge, 92.4% (583/631) of patients answered interviews. For 78.6% (496/631) of patients, their outpatient physicians returned questionnaires 19 days (median) postdischarge. Generalized estimating equations gave intervention variable coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). When comparing patients assigned to discharge software vs. usual care, patient mean (standard deviation [SD]) scores for discharge preparedness were higher (17.7 [4.1] vs. 17.2 [4.0]; coefficient = 0.147; 95% CI = 0.005-0.289; P = 0.042), patient scores for satisfaction with medication information were unchanged (12.3 [4.8] vs. 12.1 [4.6]; coefficient = -0.212; 95% CI = -0.937-0.513; P = 0.567), and their outpatient physicians scored higher quality discharge (17.2 [3.8] vs. 16.5 [3.9]; coefficient = 0.133; 95% CI = 0.015-0.251; P = 0.027). Hospital physicians found mean effort to use discharge software was more difficult than the usual care (6.5 [1.9] vs. 7.9 [2.1]; P = 0.011).ConclusionsDischarge software with CPOE caused small improvements in discharge perceptions by patients and their outpatient physicians. These small improvements might balance the difficulty perceived by hospital physicians who used discharge software.

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