A recent study by BWH’s Department of Quality Management Services (QMS), demonstrated promising results on capacity at BWH if discharge times were moved to 10 a.m. The model developed by Tom Gakis, senior associate in QMS, demonstrates that such a move would decrease overall hospital utilization by 2.6 percent and nearly 3 percent on weekdays.
“This information is clearly encouraging,” said Andy Whittemore, MD, chief medical officer. “With the hospital experiencing a tremendous demand for its services, any effort to decrease length of stay and address capacity issues is important. I commend Tom for his work developing this model.”
The study indicated that the impact would be even greater between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. when the hospital would realize a decrease in utilization of 13 percent. Lengths of stay in the ED would decrease by 15 percent and the PACU average length of stay would decrease by 17 percent.