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We hear so much about deficiencies in doctor–patient communication that sometimes we forget doctor–doctor communication can be even more problematic. A prospective cohort study from Canada provides quantitative data on the subject.
Researchers tracked 3055 patients (mean age, 63) who were discharged during a 45-month period from 11 hospitals to see how often doctors received information about patients’ visits to other doctors. Patients were followed for ≤6 months. Almost all had regular physicians and were functionally intact.
Overall, information for a previous physician visit was available 22% of the time. Nonspecialists received information more often than did specialists (32% vs. 13% of visits), but transmitted information less often (8% …