Four Simple Ward Based Initiatives to Reduce Unnecessary In-Hospital Patient Stay: A Quality Improvement Project

Prolonged hospital stay not only increases financial stress on the National Health Service but also exposes patients to an unnecessarily high risk of adverse ward events. Each day accumulates approximately £225 in bed costs with additional risks of venousthromboembolism, hospital acquired infections, prescription errors, and falls. Despite being medically fit for discharge (MFFD), patients awaiting care packages with prolonged length of stay (LoS) have poorer outcomes and experience increased rates of mortality as a result. A six cycle prospective audit was carried out to investigate if four simple ward based initiatives could optimise patient flow through a medical ward and reduce LoS of inpatients awaiting social packages and placement. The four daily initiatives were: A morning board round between nurses and doctors to prioritise new or sick patients for early review.A post ward round meeting between the multidisciplinary team to expedite rehabilitation and plan discharges early.An evening board round to highlight which patients needed discharge paperwork for the next day to alleviate the wait for pharmacy.A 'computer on wheels' on ward rounds so investigations could be ordered and reviewed at the bedside allowing more time to address patient concerns. A control month in August 2013 and five intervention cycles were completed between September 2013 and January 2014. Prior to intervention, mean time taken for patients to be discharged with a package of care, once declared MFFD, was 25 days. With intervention this value dropped to 1 day. The total LoS fell from 46 days to 16 days. It was also found that the time taken from admission to MFFD status was reduced from 21 days to 15 days. In conclusion this data shows that with four simple modifications to ward behaviour unnecessary inpatient stay can be significantly reduced.