There was an opportunity for streamlining the current process for discharging inpatients. Due to a
primarily manual process, it caused duplication of eff orts, redundancies, and variation in correct order entry steps. This resulted in increased non-value added time for both patients and Stakeholders
Primary Metric- To increase the number of patients discharged with orders in the electronic system from 5% to 50%.
(Days for Entire Process" is defi ned as the number of days from patient discharge to the day
scheduling occurs)
Pre- Implementation
January 2011
- Mean time for the entire process to occur has decreased from 4.9 days to 1.92 days
- Number of patients being discharged without electronic orders has increased to 93.4% per month
- All hospitalists were educated on the correct order entry for an outpatient follow-up hold order
- All hospitalists and medical oncologists were educated on the alignments and the inpatient rounding schedule
- One scheduler was responsible for reviewing the daily list of potential discharges and scheduling accordingly
- Clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the electronic medical record assist greatly with communication
- An involved passionate physician was key to the success of this project
For more information please contact:
Colleen Orlick
Lean Operations/Lean Six Sigma Manager
Colleen.Orlick@ctca-hope.com
