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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Medical Records and Health Information

Discharge summary

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounCommon term

In healthcare management, discharge summary means: A document written when a patient leaves hospital that summarises the diagnosis, treatment, medicines and follow-up plan, mainly for the patient's family doctor.

In Turkish: epikriz, taburcu özeti

How it is used

Also called a discharge letter in the UK. Managers monitor how quickly discharge summaries are sent, because late or incomplete summaries can lead to medication errors and readmissions. Coders also use them to code the hospital stay.

Example sentences

  1. Only 70% of discharge summaries reach the family doctor within 24 hours.

  2. The discharge summary did not mention the change in her blood thinner dose.

Common collocations

  • write a discharge summary
  • send the discharge summary
  • electronic discharge summary
  • discharge letter
  • dischargeThe point when a patient officially leaves hospital care, usually to go home, after the team decides they no longer need to stay.
  • medical recordThe official record of a patient's health and care, including their history, diagnoses, test results, treatments and the notes written by staff.
  • clinical codingThe process of turning the diagnoses and procedures in a patient's record into standard codes, which are used for payment, statistics and planning.
  • readmissionA patient's return to hospital as an inpatient soon after discharge, often within 30 days, which may point to problems with care or with the discharge.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Medical Records and Health Information

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.