After receipt of all known medical records, conduct a review of those to determine what records they reveal which are not yet available. Put all of this together to complete the timeline of all medical treatment. When developing a full chronological set of records, comparing discharge to admissions from various facilities will sometimes reveal diverging assessments of the patient. This is especially true in cases surrounding skin integrity issues. Specifically, many times the facility in which the skin breakdown was acquired will understate the severity of a bedsore, while the admission papers from the very same day at the facility where the problem did not arise will accurately assess it. This, subsequent admission records can serve as a check on the accuracy of previous discharge records.

You can read more practice tips in my chapter Screening the Nursing Malpractice Case, in a text edited by Patricia Iyer, RN MSN LNCC. More information about Nursing Malpractice, Third Edition, 2007 may be found at here.