Streamlining the Discharge Process on the Telemetry Units to Improve Overall Hospital Throughput

This evidence-based staff education project was implemented to address the problem of ineffective discharge processes and delayed discharges within the hospital setting that leads to poor patient flow impacting overall hospital throughput. There was an overall lack of knowledge by registered nurses (RNs) on effectively implementing changes that affect a standardized discharge process that could help improve patient flow and hospital throughput. This staff educational project aimed to improve the staff nurses’ knowledge of the standardized discharge process and its impact on hospital throughput. The practice-focused question that guided this project was as follows: “What is the impact of a staff education program on staff knowledge of effective standardized discharge processes to improve hospital throughput?” A pretest/posttest design was used for this staff education project. A 10-question pretest/post-test and PowerPoint presentation e-learning module were placed on the hospital learning management system (LMS). The participants included staff nurses in the Telemetry Unit (N= 42). Findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, which showed a significant difference (p < .05) between the pretest and post-test evaluation of knowledge scores. These findings showed that educating staff on effective discharge processes to address this practice problem improved their knowledge of implementing changes that impact patient flow and throughput. Standardized discharge processes are beneficial to patient outcomes and satisfaction. It is recommended that staff implement measures that promote positive social change by addressing patient flow and hospital throughput to decrease long emergency department wait times that can marginalize low-income and underserved communities, increasing mortality and morbidity rates.