On the North 9 Stroke Unit at Hartford Hospital the discharge process was fragmented with long lead times for completion and the communication across the healthcare team was not well coordinated and as a result there was a lot of patient, family and staff dissatisfaction as well a longer length of stay for the stroke patient population.

Utilizing a Kaizen approach, the team mapped 30 opportunities for improvement, and quickly identified 39 countermeasures to transform this work for the better.  In just 4 days, the Stroke Discharge Kaizen Team accomplished a redesign that led to the creation of standard work; their concerted efforts and exceptional accomplishments have dramatically transformed the way we deliver care to the stroke patient which ultimately improves the safety and clinical outcomes for each patient, and facilitates timely throughput.

Improving the coordination of care resulted in some substantial milestone accomplishments, including length of stay reduction from 6.2 days to 4.93 days, planned discharges before 11am rose from 15% to 88% , and coordination of the outpatient appointment increased from 60% to 92.5%.  As an organization we always strive to provide a standard of excellence to every patient, but this Kaizen has helped facilitate a much more coordinated experience for our stroke patients and their families, not just in the hospital setting but to prepare them in the best way for their post-hospital care needs.  Through such work, we are demonstrating our values of integrity, safety, excellence, and caring not just by providing the highest possible level of care to our patients and their families, but also by ensuring it is the most patient centered and coordinated experience.