A rapid process improvement workshop (RPIW) recently completed at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre has reduced the amount of time it takes to discharge patients from acute care to a more appropriate location by 49 percent.
The improvement was primarily due to an electronic system being put in place to make the available long-term care, respite and transition beds at other facilities in the region more visible to those involved in the discharge planning.
“It is great to have staff and patients on the RPIW team improving the quality of our services,” says Perry Froehlich, Director of Kaizen Promotion and Patient Safety. “Our lean training has demonstrated that when we focus on improving quality and safety that a reduction in costs often follows. During an RPIW the team removes unnecessary steps and waste from a process to make better use of time and materials.”
This was evident during RPIW with a 43 percent savings in time spent in discharge meetings. This enables the nurses and other care staff who are involved in discharge arrangements to reallocate this time to direct patient care.
“Being informed of a potential discharge date will help family communicate with each other and help the family in moving forward with plans related to the discharge date,” says Bonnie Cobb, a patient representative who participated on the RPIW team.
Prior to the RPIW, acute care patients were staying in acute care beds for an average of 18.5 days, after it was determined by their physician that they no longer required acute care services. The average dropped to 9.4 days after the RPIW.
“This is a continuous improvement process and we will follow the gains made in RPIW #9 with audits at 60, 90 and 120 days to ensure they are sustained and, when necessary, take corrective action.” adds Froehlich. “There is still room for improvement and I expect we will revisit discharge planning in the future to make further improvements to reduce unnecessary waits for patients in hospital.”
The work that was completed to study and improve the process during this RPIW, has freed beds in the hospital to be available for acutely ill patients. The patients’ experience has improved by knowing their discharge date sooner and by having care in the most appropriate and comfortable setting.
