Question.2985 - Read the article that discusses how Six Sigma was applied to improve a hospital discharge process. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method, as applicable to a potential Six Sigma project at your workplace. > > Word count min 100
Answer Below:
Hospital discharge process: This is the time when patients are discharged from the hospitals. Either they are to be taken back home or to an after care center. At this time it involves the passing on of all the necessary information’s and the documents to the family or the after care center. At the time of discharge different processes are to be undertaken. They are: ? Discharge planning ? Medication reconciliation ? Patient instruction ? Discharge summary Discharge planning: This is a plan for discharging the patient from the hospital. This is an important part to be undertaken by the hospital. Advantages of discharge planning: ? In case of discharge planning, the doctors visit the patient for their first check-up and the discharging date is decided. ? In case of discharge planning, the doctors come on daily, weekly or bi-weekly rounds as per the patient’s requirement. ? In case of discharge planning, the doctors inform the staff, patient and the patient’s family about the process of giving the medicines and the care that is to be taken. Disadvantages of discharge planning: ? Discharge planning, lacks the means of communication and coordination between various departments. Medication reconciliation: This is a process where the medicine prescribed to the patient is revised at the time of discharging the patient. Advantages of medication reconciliation: ? Medication reconciliation helps to ensure that the patient is aware of the fact which medicine is to be taken, when to take the medicine and how to take the medicine. ? Medication reconciliation even helps the after care center about the medicine prescribed to the patient. Disadvantages of medication reconciliation: ? The disadvantage of medication reconciliation is the lack of communication between the nurses and the patients. ? The disadvantage of medication reconciliation is that it did not reduce the risk of readmission of the same patient. Patient instruction: This is a form of document in which all the information’s about the patient is provided. Advantages of patient instruction: ? The advantage of patient instruction is that it improves the communication between the family and the hospital. ? In case of patient instruction the family is well informed about the expenses of the hospital including the doctor. Disadvantages of patient instruction: ? The disadvantage of patient instruction is that the discharging date and time of the patient is not discussed with the family. ? The disadvantage of patient instruction is the means of lack of communicating language between the doctor and the family. In case of illiterate patient information’s are to be verbally explained, that is not followed. Discharge summary: This is a written document provided to the after care center by the hospital at the time of discharging the patient. Advantages of discharge summary: ? The advantage of discharge summary is that it is the most important means of communication between the after care center and the hospital. ? Discharge summary helps the after care center in identifying the pending tests at the time of discharge. Disadvantage of discharge summary: ? The disadvantage of discharge summary is that the cost related information is not provided. ? The disadvantage of discharge summary is that it lacks to provide the after care center with relevant information. Reference: Hospital discharge http://www.uptodate.com/contents/hospital-dischargeMore Articles From Operation Management
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