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Optimize your discharge planning process

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, November 21, 2007

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"A good discharge experience leaves the patient with positive emotions and a strong affinity for returning to the facility," said Paul Clark, MPA, MA, CHE, senior knowledge manager for Press Ganey Associates in South Bend, IN, during the HCPro audioconference "Optimizing the Discharge Process: Improve Patient Flow, Reduce Length of Stay, and Increase Patient Satisfaction."

The first step to optimize your discharge planning process is understanding what it looks like from the patient's perspective, said Clark. "Then you can start to envision your own ideal process. You can start to identify the gaps between reality and your envisioned ideal."

Next, to help understand and create an ideal discharge planning process, Clark recommended using the Joint Commission and American Medical Association (AMA) standards for discharge planning (see the table on p. 5 of the PDF of this issue) as a framework.

Both The Joint Commission and the AMA require hospitals to provide an assessment of a patient's learning needs, abilities, preferences, and readiness that considers culture, religion, emotional barriers, physical and cognitive limitations, language barriers, and financial implications.

"The standards are very comprehensive and challenging, but they're good," said Clark. "You should ask yourself, How often are we hitting these standards? How do we do this? Do we do it each and every time or only when we have complex cases?"

After framing your discharge process around the Joint Commission and AMA standards, the Press Ganey researchers recommend you structure your process based on your patients' needs. "Patients need to know many things," said Clark. "They want to know when they will be going home and what they will have to go through on the day of discharge. They want to feel safe and prepared for a transfer, if needed. They want all of their questions answered, their feelings considered, their families involved, and a continuous healing relationship with their care providers."

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