When to take your medication. What symptoms to be concerned about. When to see your doctor next. Being discharged from hospital can be stressful.
Patient Oriented Discharge Summary (PODS) is a new and proven tool to help patients better manage their post-hospital care and is alleviating some of that stress for patients and their caregivers.
PODS was co-developed by patients and health care providers and applies best practices in design and adult learning.
It provides patients with a set of clear and easy-to-understand instructions upon discharge.
PODS offers an individualized and tailored discharge process for each patient. This unique approach increases patients’ confidence in their ability to care for themselves once home.
It was designed in collaboration with University Health Network’s OpenLab – a design and innovation group dedicated to finding creative health care solutions.
A 2015 patient satisfaction survey from the first eight hospitals PODS was implemented in show that patient satisfaction scores related to their discharge experience increased between 9.3% and 19.4% after PODS was adopted.
PODS has spread to and is being adopted by 27 hospitals across Ontario in all 14 LHINS with support from ARTIC (Adopting Research to Improve Care), a joint program of the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario and Health Quality Ontario.
While there is potential for approximately 50,000 patients to benefit from PODS in its first year, far more could benefit as this becomes a new model of care in the future.
To learn more about PODS, visit the PODS section on our website or visit hqontario.ca.