Introduction: Morning discharge huddles, consisting of inpatient care team members, improve communication and patient care, facilitating patient flow through the hospital. However, how huddles affect hospital costs and patient satisfaction is unclear. The aim was to investigate how a neurosurgery-led interdisciplinary daily morning huddle affected different costs of patient care and patient satisfaction.
Methods: Data was collected retrospectively for average ICU days, average stepdown days, average direct cost, average laboratory costs, average pharmacy costs, hospital ratings, hospital recommendations. Then the data before and after implantation of the huddle were compared.
Results: There was a significant decrease in the number of ICU days, average laboratory costs, and average pharmacy costs per patient after the huddle was implemented (all p < 0.05), resulting in an estimated $1,408,047.66 in savings. The percentage of patients who rated our hospital as a “9 or 10” significantly increased (p < 0.05). The percentage who answered “strongly agree” when asked whether they would recommend the hospital also significantly increased (p < 0.05). There was no difference for average direct cost.
Conclusions: Implementation of a morning huddle may result in significant hospital savings while simultaneously increasing patient satisfaction.
Patient Care: Morning huddles have been shown to have a variety of benefits in patient care, however this study demonstrated that morning huddles are likely beneficial for the hospital as well as the patient.
Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to do the following: 1) Describe the importance of team based patient care; 2) Discuss in small groups how morning discharge huddles could be or are beneficial in their own institutions; 3) Identify the benefits and drawbacks to morning discharge huddle implementation.