Emes, MR;
Smith, S;
Ward, S;
Smith, A;
(2019)
Improving the patient discharge process: Implementing actions derived from a Soft Systems Methodology Study.
Health Systems
, 8
(2)
pp. 117-133.
10.1080/20476965.2018.1524405.
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Abstract
In the period from January 2013 to July 2014, three process change initiatives were undertaken at a major UK hospital to improve the patient discharge process. These initiatives were inspired by the findings of a study of the discharge process using Soft Systems Methodology. The first initiative simplified time-consuming paperwork and the second introduced more regular reviews of patient progress through daily multi-disciplinary “Situation Reports”. These two initiatives were undertaken in parallel across the hospital, and for the average patient they jointly led to a 41% reduction between a patient being declared medically stable and their being discharged from the hospital. The third initiative implemented more proactive alerting of Social Care Practitioners to patients with probable social care needs at the front door, and simplified capture of important patient information (using a “SPRING” form). This initiative saw a 20% reduction in total length of stay for 88 patients on three wards where the SPRING form was used, whilst 248 patients on five control wards saw no significant change in total length of stay in the same period. Taken together, these initiatives have reduced total length of stay by 67% from 55.8 days to 18.6 days for the patients studied.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Improving the patient discharge process: Implementing actions derived from a Soft Systems Methodology Study |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1080/20476965.2018.1524405 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/20476965.2018.1524405 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Patient discharge process, complex needs, Health Needs Assessment, Soft Systems Methodology |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10055390 |
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