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) alleviates some of that stress for patients and their caregivers.
It is a new and proven tool to help patients know how to manage at home once discharged.
Co-developed by patients and health care providers, PODS applies best practices in design and adult learning.
It provides patients with easy-to-understand instructions upon discharge that also facilitate a tailored and clear discussion between health care providers and patients on what the patient needs to know and do once they return home.
It was designed in collaboration with University Health Network’s OpenLab – a design and innovation group dedicated to finding creative health care solutions.
PODS has spread to and is being adopted by 27 hospitals across Ontario with support from ARTIC (Adopting Research to Improve Care), a joint program of the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario and Health Quality Ontario.
For more information about ARTIC, please email us at ARTIC@HQOntario.ca.