Quality teams must manage the push and pull of maximizing the discharge process to create beds while ensuring that patients go home And everything they need to prevent them from ending up back in one of the beds.

Allegheny improves review of social determinants risk profiles in patients without COVID-19 prior to hospital discharge. Health systems take into account household factors that may increase the risk of readmission, such as ease of transportation and food insecurity. Patients also contacted nurses two days after discharge, instead of the usual seven.

ChristianaCare, a two-hospital system in Wilmington, Delaware, had experience with throughput issues related to stroke patients prior to the pandemic. When it became clear that their standard admissions criteria would cause delays in care because of bed capacity, the nonprofit system set out to find a telemedicine system already used for its stroke programs.

Some patients who would have been admitted before went home instead. ChristianaCare connects them with remote nurses and other caregivers who supervise them through home equipment provided by the hospital. Chief Medical Officer Dr Kert Anzilotti said there had been no readmissions, postoperative complications or infections in the health system.

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“It’s a real quality and safety challenge because we have to make sure they get rehab, they get physiotherapy, and they’re going to go through all the steps they did as inpatients in their recovery,” Anzilotti said. “During COVID-19 During that time, we really had no choice but to do things differently and innovate.”

discharge period Patients are usually at greatest risk as they enter the home or other environment from a highly controlled setting without equivalent supervision. Recognizing this, UPMC’s Burwell got involved.