Communication of incidental imaging findings on inpatient discharge summaries after implementation of electronic health record notification system.
Patients typically receive numerous laboratory and imaging studies while hospitalized, some of which may have findings unrelated to the primary reason for admission (i.e., incidental findings), which must be communicated to patients. In this study, records of patients with incidental imaging findings (IIF) were reviewed to determine if IIFs were included on hospital discharge summaries and if the patients were aware of them. Approximately half of discharge summaries mentioned IIFs, and most patients and providers (79%) were aware of the findings.