Streamlining Discharges with EdgeAi:
A Case Study on Reducing Nursing Labor
An 18-hospital health system was experiencing increasing nursing labor costs and lowering nursing retention rates. The excess effort during and throughout the discharge process contributed to the increases in cost. The stress from the growing burden of patient care administration contributed to the decline in the joy of delivering direct patient care - the primary reason nurses entered the profession.
The system partnered with Edgility and implemented Edgility's Discharge-as-a-Service solution with EdgeAi. This service and supporting Lenses streamline and optimize the discharge process.
Challenges
Based on a detailed analysis, Edgility calculated that nurses in this system spend an average of 32 minutes reviewing the electronic health record (EHR) to prepare each patient for Discharge. Additionally, the discharge process takes an average of 101 minutes of nursing time per patient, nearly two hours, making it one of their most time-consuming activities.
These conditions contributed to longer discharge times, creating throughput bottlenecks. Nurses were dissatisfied due to the time spent on administrative, non-patient-care tasks. And the luxury of spending half an hour reading through a patient's chart is not affordable given current staffing levels.
Goals
Edgility's Discharge as a Service and supporting lenses, all with EdgeAI, were implemented as the logical solution. DaaS identifies the discharge status of each patient, from the moment of admission through physically exiting the hospital. Nurses have immediate and always up-to-date awareness of each patient's journey. As importantly, the DaaS system lets staff know what activities create the risk of missing a timely discharge. Now, nurses know what to do and when. This awareness is not limited to nursing. Ancillary departments receive the same level of awareness via the same lenses and "levers of action."
The long, laborious discharge efforts dissolved, and on-time discharges increased, creating much-needed capacity. Labor time (costs) dropped, and employee satisfaction rose.
Results after Implementation
57 min
Reduction in workflow
82%
Discharges before 2 PM goals
73%
Discharges before 11 AM goals
$4,213,164
Labor savings quantified per discharge (5 years)
How EdgeHuddle is making an Impact
Edgility's Discharge Orchestration decants avoidable nursing tasks from the discharge process, nurses can spend more time on higher-value tasks that require their unique skills and expertise. This can help to reduce nursing labor and improve efficiency, while also improving job satisfaction and reducing burnout among nursing staff.”
– Health System Chief Nursing Executive