Patient care - daily dynamic discharge approach: guidance

Delay Caused by 'Human Behaviours'

This doesn't mean we consciously choose to behave in a way which causes delay, it is an inevitable side effect of working in such a complex environment dominated by high levels of variation and uncertainty, with many conflicting demands on our time. We tend to create 'coping mechanisms', these include:

• Acceptance of delay

• Batching/Bad multi-tasking/Silo-working

• Parkinson's Law and Student Syndrome

• Think setting an EDD around known delays and 'realistic' completion time rather than the patients recovery rate - enter 'Parkinson's Law' (work expands to fill the time allotted)

• Student Syndrome: Leaving things until the last minute - enter 'Murphy', or picking off easy tasks at the cost of complex ones. Think simple discharges vs complex discharges.