A randomised controlled trial assessing the efficacy of an electronic discharge communication tool for preventing death or hospital readmission.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of an electronic discharge communication tool (e-DCT) for preventing death or hospital readmission, as well as reducing patient-reported adverse events after hospital discharge. The e-DCT assessed has already been shown to yield high-quality discharge summaries with high levels of patient and physician satisfaction.

Methods: This two-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted in a Canadian tertiary care centre's internal medicine medical teaching units.

Development of a novel electronic surveillance system for monitoring of bloodstream infections.

Background: Electronic surveillance systems (ESSs) that utilize existing information in databases are more efficient than conventional infection surveillance methods.

Objective: To develop an ESS for monitoring bloodstream infections (BSIs) and assess whether data obtained from the ESS were in agreement with data obtained by traditional manual medical-record review.

Methods: An ESS was developed by linking data from regional laboratory and hospital administrative databases.