Reducing Length of Stay

Reducing Length of Stay is important because it releases capacity to be able to treat more patients. Achieving it requires reducing variation in demand and streamlining the whole pathway of care from admission to discharge to remove processes that delay the patient’s journey.

See the NHS Institute’s Improvement Tools to help reduce the length of stay. Tools and techniques you may find useful include Process Mapping; a comprehensive guide to demand and capacity, keep the flow, an overview of variation and Lean - 7 wastes.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement also has some useful tools and examples of practice:
A Pragmatic Approach to Improving Patient Efficiency Throughput
Intensive Care Unit Average Length of Stay (ICU ALOS)
Emergency department length of stay independently predicts inpatient length of stay
Reducing Length of Stay in Intensive Care
AM admissions/PM discharges can reduce length of stay discharges

See also:
http://www.reducinglengthofstay.org.uk/
Reducing length of stay following orthopaedic surgery: the Conquest Hospital in Hastings
Enhanced Recovery: Case studies and practical examples
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