One of the major ways through which length of stay can be reduced in healthcare facilities while maintaining the quality of care relates to the management of the discharge process. The variations in the discharge process tend to lengthen the stay in many healthcare facilities. The proposed strategy seeks to manage and eliminate barriers to timely discharge both from an operational perspective as well as from a clinical perspective (Wyndaele, 2013). The approach recognizes factors such as an inadequate number of healthcare coordinators and physicians who examine patients before discharge and complex procedures among others as the major barriers to the effective and timely discharge of patients. As such, it suggests bridging such barriers through the provision of adequate staffing and resources as well as minimizing discharge bureaucracy. This will make the discharge process shorter and consequently reduce the time of time within healthcare facilities.
The major strength of managing the discharge process is that it addresses a major cause of the increased length of stay within the healthcare facility. Many patients with an increased length of stay associate such increase with ineffective discharge procedures (Wyndaele, 2013). Therefore, addressing the challenges presented by disparities in the discharge process will be very instrumental in reducing the length of time substantially. Therefore, it is an effective method of reducing LOS.
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One of the weaknesses with this approach is that it cannot be utilized in isolation. It must be in line with other strategies in order to maintain quality care and the wellbeing of patients. It must collaborate with strategies such as effective clinical evaluations among other factors that promote patient recovery Chamberlain & Dwyer, 2015). Secondly, this approach is likely to compromise the wellbeing of patients after discharge. In most cases, it places great emphasis on the process of discharge while disregarding other factors such as the ability of the patient’s family to take care of them after discharge.
References
Chamberlain, M., & Dwyer, R. (2015). Reducing the pre-operative length of stay for entero-cutaneous fistula repair with a multi-disciplinary approach. BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 4 (1): pii: u204075.w1773
Wyndaele, J. J. (2013). Improve efficiency of spinal cord rehabilitation by reducing the length of stay while maintaining or improving patient outcomes. Spinal Cord, 51 (2): 87-87.
