1. What is a Discharge Summary in DocDaily?
A discharge summary is the single document a hospital hands an admitted (IPD) patient when they leave — capturing the diagnosis, treatment given, procedures, medications, and follow-up advice. In DocDaily, you don't type this document from scratch. It is assembled automatically from the clinical sections you have already filled in on the patient's appointment, then printed as a clean PDF on your clinic letterhead.
The same tool that prints an OPD visit summary prints the discharge summary — it is the Appointment Summary Report option on the Appointment Details screen. For an admitted patient, DocDaily simply titles it “Discharge Summary” by default.
Throughout this guide we'll use a sample admitted patient — Mrs. Kavita Deshmukh (54F), admitted on 10 Aug 2026 and discharged on 13 Aug 2026 after a minor orthopaedic procedure. Replace these details with your own patient when you follow along.
2. Before You Start
A discharge summary is only as complete as the information entered during the stay. Make sure:
- The patient's appointment / admission is open in DocDaily (you can see their name, age, and admission dates at the top of the Appointment Details screen).
- The clinical sections relevant to the stay are filled in — at minimum Diagnosis, Operation Details (if any procedure was done), medications (RX), Advice, and Follow-up.
- You have print/report rights for the patient. If the appointment has been locked, you can still print it — you just can't edit the sections.
If the visit started as OPD and the patient was later admitted, use the Move to IPD (bed) icon in the top toolbar first. Once the appointment is marked IPD, the report title automatically becomes “Discharge Summary”.
3. Step-by-Step: Generate the Discharge Summary
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Open the patient's Appointment Details
From the appointment list, calendar, or IPD patient list, click the patient to open the Appointment Details screen. You'll see the patient banner at the top (name, age, contact, and the D.O.A. / D.O.D. admission dates for IPD).
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Complete the clinical sections
Using the section list on the left (Chief Complaint, H/O, HPI, O/E, Diagnosis, Operation Details, Anesthetic Note, RX, Advice, Follow-up, and so on), fill in everything relevant to the admission. Anything you enter here is what will appear in the printed summary.
To save time, start typing in the Search Saved Summary Here box to pull in a previously saved template for common cases, then adjust the details.
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Open the Appointment Summary Report
In the top-right toolbar of the Appointment Details screen, click the 📄 Appointment Summary Report icon (the document icon). This opens the Print Setting dialog.
Step 3 — click the document icon (“Appointment Summary Report”) in the top toolbar. -
Confirm the report title
In Report Title, admitted (IPD) patients show “Discharge Summary” automatically. For an OPD visit it shows “Appointment Summary” — simply type Discharge Summary (or any title you prefer) in the box.
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Choose your print options
Tick Print Logo to print on your clinic letterhead. For IPD reports, Print OPD Headers lets you also include the OPD consultation header details. (See the next section for what each option does.)
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Select the sections to include
Use Select All to include everything, or tick only the sections you want — for example Diagnosis, Operation Details, RX, Advice, and Follow-up. Drag a section up or down in the list to change the order it prints in.
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Click Print
Press Print. DocDaily generates a print-ready PDF discharge summary with your selected sections and letterhead — ready to print for the patient or save and share.
That's it — Mrs. Deshmukh's discharge summary is generated as a PDF. To reprint it later, just reopen her Appointment Details and click the report icon again.
4. Print Setting Options Explained
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Report Title | The heading printed at the top of the document. Defaults to “Discharge Summary” for IPD and “Appointment Summary” for OPD; fully editable. |
| Print Logo | Prints the report on your clinic's letterhead / logo. On by default. |
| Print OPD Headers | Available for admitted (IPD) reports — includes the OPD consultation header details alongside the discharge content. |
| Select All | Ticks or unticks every section at once so you can quickly include everything or start from a clean slate. |
| Section checkboxes | Choose exactly which clinical sections print. Drag to reorder them in the final document. |
If your hospital always uses a specific title (say “IPD Discharge Card”), you can set default OPD and IPD report titles in your Print Settings so the correct title appears automatically every time.
5. Sections You Can Include
The exact list depends on how your practice is configured, but a discharge summary commonly pulls from these sections:
MLC Details
Medico-legal case information — MLC number, police station, mode of injury (for RTA / MLC cases).
Complaints & History
Chief Complaint, H/O, HPI and past medical history (PMH) recorded at admission.
Examination & Vitals
O/E, General & Systemic Examination, DNVD and recorded vitals.
Investigations
Lab Reports, Radiology Reports, and pre- / post-operative investigations (IX).
Diagnosis & Procedure
Final Diagnosis, Anesthetic Note, and Operation Details for any surgery performed.
Treatment & Follow-up
Medications (RXORDER / RX), discharge Advice, and the Follow-up plan.
6. Tips & Best Practices
- Lock after finalising. Once the discharge summary is correct, use the Lock Appointment icon so the record can't be edited by mistake — you can still reprint it.
- Reuse saved summaries. Build templates for common procedures and pull them in from the “Search Saved Summary” box to cut typing time.
- Trim the sections. A shorter, focused summary is easier for patients and referring doctors to read — untick sections that aren't relevant to the stay.
- Order matters. Drag Diagnosis and Operation Details near the top so the most important information is seen first.
- Save as PDF to share. The generated PDF can be printed for the patient file or shared over WhatsApp / email with the patient or a referring doctor.
The discharge summary reflects exactly what is entered in the appointment sections. If a section looks empty in the printout, open that section on the Appointment Details screen, add the details, and print again.
DocDaily — Hospital & Clinic Management, Built for India
Discharge summaries are just one of the documents DocDaily generates from a single patient record — alongside OPD summaries, prescriptions (RX), bills and receipts, lab reports, and medico-legal certificates. Enter patient information once and reuse it across every document.
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