Application of Predictive Modelling to Improve the Discharge Process in Hospitals

OBJECTIVES: To find out the factors influencing discharge process turnaround time (TAT) and to accurately predict the discharge process TAT. METHODS: The discharge process of cardiology department inpatients in a tertiary care hospital was mapped over a month. The likely factors influencing discharge TAT were tested for significance by ANOVA. Multiple linear regression (MLR) was used to predict the TAT. The sample was divided into testing and training sets for regression. A model was generated using the training set and compared with the testing set for accuracy. RESULTS: After a process map was plotted, the significant factors influencing the TAT were identified to be the treating doctor, and pending evaluations on the day of discharge. The MLR model was developed with Python libraries based on the two factors identified. The model predicted the discharge TAT with a 69% R(2) value and 32.4 minutes (standard error) on the testing set and a 77.3% R(2) value and 26.7 minutes (standard error) on the overall sample. CONCLUSIONS: This study was an initiation to find out factors influencing discharge TAT and how those factors can be used to predict discharge in the hospital of interest. The study was validated and predicted the TAT with 77% accuracy after the significant factors that affect the discharge process were identified.