A randomized trial of providing house staff with patient social history information: Effect on patient outcomes

The purpose of this project was to assess if providing physicians (house staff) with routine comprehensive social history information on their patients will improve patient outcomes. Comprehensive social history information was gathered over a 5-month period on 134 consecutive patients. Patients were randomized to have social history information provided or not provided to the resident physician caring for them. Outcomes of interest were: patient satisfaction, length of stay, and early unplanned readmission. Analysis was with analysis of covariance, controlling for patient severity of illness and amount of social history information documented by the house officer. Outcomes were the same for patients for whom house staff were provided social history information versus those for whom the information was not provided. The authors conclude that providing house staff with routine comprehensive social history information did not influence patient outcomes.