Bed Capability Management and the Importance of Efficient Discharge Process
Bed capability management is a crucial issue for hospitals due to the fact it impacts on patient flow, increases costs, and leads to gradual care. To improve the quality of how hospitals work, the important method is shifting from culture to communication. In efficient discharges leads to delayed transfers and admissions. Additionally, a longer continue to be at the hospital translated to higher costs for everybody involved.
Standard Discharge Criteria for Efficient Patient Flow
As such, standard discharge criteria can be developed to manage the discharge method for patients. To test the efficacy of this plan, 11 common inpatient diagnoses based totally on available evidence and consensus in Cincinnati Hospital were selected. The intention of this strategy is to ensure efficient patient flow in and out of the hospital. The information regarding patients was embedded in the electronic medical record. This essay will highlight the impacts of this intervention to the efficiency of the discharge process and cost of health care services.
The new approach was successful in making things easier for families with patients in Cincinnati Hospital. Essentially, the nurses can monitor and signal when patients are ready for discharge. Moreover, doctors can better prioritize first rounding, thereby improving discharge efficiency. It was easier to communicate patient needs between all care providers, irrespective of time. The patients were now released depending on their medical record, and not because the hospital requires beds for admission. Patients can be discharged within two hours of meeting criteria and approval by the nurses, an aspect that has enabled families, health plans, and the hospital to save on medical cost. This plan is also in line with the worldwide goal of significantly reducing healthcare cost, particularly for low-income earners; in addition, there are more beds available to admit patients as compared to the time when the initiative was not established (Finn, Heffner, Chang, Bazari, Hunt, Pickell, 2011). These changes have enabled Cincinnati Hospital to improve patient flow and reduce health care costs for their patients.
Putting Patient Needs First for an Efficient Discharge Process
The discharge process concentrated on patient needs first where they released those who were medically ready. As a result, there was a 38% increase in patient released who were medically ready and within the required time. Consecutively, this approach recorded an estimated 5.9 million dollars in cost savings. The success of this plan was due to the fact that the hospital management worked from the patient’s perspective. This not only made sure that they saved money for many families, but it also ensured that patients received quality care according to their needs. Before this initiative, there were many medical errors caused by team breakdowns and communication errors, aspects that led to poor health outcomes. To combat this Cincinnati Hospital management team developed a strategy that put key providers on the same page (Bevan, & Patel, 2016). The plan successfully prevented discharge delays and put patients’ needs first; these were significant strides in making patients safer.
Significant Improvements and Challenges
The 11 common inpatient diagnoses departments that were used in executing the strategy recorded significant improvements in terms of their outcomes. Standardizing care protocols and increasing efficiency in the discharge process had positive effects on both the hospital and families (Statile, Schondelmeyer, Thomson, Brower, 2016). However, there is the need for more training of staff to make sure that they are well incorporated into the new system to avoid problems. Also, the commitment to causing zero harm to the patient should be every hospital’s priority. Although there are few challenges such as lack of funds by patients during their discharge time, this approach had proved useful in addressing the discharge process and patients’ needs. It is of the essence to ensure that every hospital aligns its programs with this strategy to achieve quality and cost-effective health care of patients in their facilities.
References
Bevan, A., & Patel, N. (January 01, 2016). An electronic prescription alerting system-improving
the discharge medicines process. Archives of Diseases, 101, 9.)
Finn, K. M., Heffner, R., Chang, Y., Bazari, H., Hunt, D., Pickell, K. (January 01, 2011).
Improving the discharge process by embedding a discharge facilitator in a resident team.
Journal of Hospital Medicine, 6, 9, 494-500.
Statile, A. M., Schondelmeyer, A. C., Thomson, J. E., Brower, L. H. (January 01, 2016).
Improving Discharge Efficiency in Medically Complex Pediatric Patients. Pediatrics,
138, 2.)
