A tool for improving patient discharge process and hospital communication practices: the "Patient Tracker"

Hospital bed demands sometimes exceed capacity, leading to delays in patient admissions, transfers and cancellations of surgical procedures. Effective strategies must be in place for an efficient use of existing beds. Establishing such strategies at academic hospitals poses serious challenges. We developed and implemented a web-based software application called "Patient Tracker" to manage the discharge process, minimize delays in admission and reduce surgical procedure cancellations. We also tested the effectiveness of the software on the work flow by comparing outcomes between the pre-implementation control group (2002-2003) and the post-implementation experimental group (2003-2006). Following the implementation of the software, the number of cancelled surgical procedures decreased (120 vs. 12, p<0.01). During the same period, the average number of inpatient admissions increased (5725 vs. 6120), and the median emergency department LOS decreased (247 vs. 232, p<0.01).