The team came up with a light system on the ceiling outside each room, using them to signal what needs to be done in each room. Purple means the room is clean and ready for the next patient. Orange means the patient is out having X-rays taken. Green means a doctor said the patient is ready to go home. And red means the room needs to be cleaned. Another change was asking the patient earlier in an ER stay whether a social worker is required. A third change was setting a uniform standard for all nurses to finish their discharge tasks for a patient in that patient's room before exiting the room. When the project started, the average discharge time was 52 minutes. Six months later, when the changes were in effect, the discharge time was reduced to 31 minutes. The team set a goal of 15 minutes, which they believe they’ll eventually reach.
NBHC Care Experience