SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Novel Hospital-Based Team to Improve Throughput and Remove Discharge Barriers

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The article describes the creation of a hospital-based “Flow Control Team” (FCT) designed to improve patient throughput and reduce discharge delays in a large academic medical center. Hospitals increasingly face pressure to shorten length of stay, reduce emergency department boarding, and improve access for complex patients, especially in high-occupancy systems.<br /><br />Launched in September 2021 at a 652-bed urban academic hospital, the FCT is a transdisciplinary physician-nurse dyad supported by hospital operations staff. Physicians from multiple specialties, mostly hospitalists, and nursing supervisors work weekday shifts to proactively identify discharge barriers, delays, and opportunities for transfer between inpatient sites. The team helps expedite services such as radiology, anesthesia, cardiology, case management, therapy, and pharmacy, and can be contacted directly by inpatient providers.<br /><br />In a review of 16 FCT days, the team was contacted about 10 patients per day. Common interventions included speeding up imaging, facilitating intra-facility transfers, and addressing other discharge obstacles. Survey results from 38 attending hospitalists showed strong acceptance: 90% reported positive feedback, noting earlier discharges, increased transfers, and reduced length of stay or excess hospital days.<br /><br />The authors conclude that the FCT was well received and effective in resolving real-time throughput problems. They suggest that this model may be replicable at other hospitals and could also reveal system-level bottlenecks that lead to broader operational improvements. They note that FCTs may be especially helpful for patients with complex social situations and discharge planning needs. Future work will assess return on investment, measure patient-days saved through transfers, and develop processes to turn identified barriers into system improvements.

Asset Subtitle

Theodore Peng

Meta Tag

Author List Adrienne Green, Armond Esmaili, David Arboleda, Jahan Fahimi, Sajan Patel, Salman Rahman, Theodore Peng, Toni Workman-Braden

Category Innovations

Concept Flow Control Team

Concept Patient Throughput

Concept Discharge Barrier

Concept Discharge Delay

Concept Hospital Operations

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of California San Francisco

Presenting Author Theodore Peng

Track Value in Hospital Medicine

Keywords

patient throughput

discharge delays

hospital operations

flow control team

academic medical center

length of stay

inpatient transfers

hospitalists

discharge barriers

patient flow

Flow Control Team

Patient Throughput

Discharge Barrier

Discharge Delay

Hospital Operations