SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Inpatient Discharge Barriers

Pdf Summary

This UCSF survey study examined how inpatient interdisciplinary staff perceive and prioritize discharge barriers. The goal was to identify whether different roles share similar views on the most important discharge delays, which could help improve hospital throughput workflows.<br /><br />An anonymous, voluntary survey was distributed in September 2025 to physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, nursing managers, case management, rehab services, and pharmacists. Respondents ranked common discharge barriers by how often they encountered them and how important they felt it was to address them proactively. Rankings were compared across roles.<br /><br />A total of 282 individuals participated, including attending physicians, nurses, residents/fellows, case management staff, and other interdisciplinary team members. Responses came from 14 services, with Hospital Medicine accounting for about half of all responses.<br /><br />Overall, there was strong alignment across roles. The barriers most often encountered were also generally viewed as the highest priority to address. The consistently top-ranked issues included diagnostic imaging delays, transport confirmation, and prescription coordination. These findings suggest that there are clear, high-yield targets for system-level improvement.<br /><br />The study concludes that interventions focusing on imaging workflows, discharge logistics, and medication coordination may have the greatest impact across interdisciplinary teams. The results are being shared with institutional leadership to support new throughput initiatives and guide future discharge process improvements.

Asset Subtitle

Gillian Foley

Meta Tag

Author List Brandon S. Scott, Gillian Foley, Judy Hoang, Nerys Benfield

Category Research

Concept Discharge Barrier

Concept Discharge Workflow

Concept Interdisciplinary Team

Concept Case Management

Concept Priority

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of California, San Francisco

Presenting Author Gillian Foley

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

UCSF

discharge barriers

inpatient interdisciplinary staff

hospital throughput

survey study

diagnostic imaging delays

transport confirmation

prescription coordination

discharge logistics

workflow improvement

Discharge Barrier

Discharge Workflow

Interdisciplinary Team

Case Management

Priority