A clearer checklist got UCLA neurology patients home three days sooner

Every extra day in a hospital bed is a day not spent at home — and at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center, which runs at about 130% capacity, beds mean everything. So neurology chief quality officer Melissa Reider-Demer and colleagues built something unglamorous and effective: shared, written discharge criteria, agreed by hospitalists, specialists, residents and nurse practitioners, for conditions like stroke-like episodes, seizures and fainting. When a patient meets the criteria, the discharge order can be placed and released without waiting on who is on service, with a two-hour target. Presented at the American Neurological Association meeting, the result was stark: average stays fell from 5.5 days to 2.2 days, even as patient numbers rose.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program