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Use Cases Throughput

Discharge Coordination

A physician marks a patient "ready for discharge" — and then multiple departments need to complete their tasks before the patient can actually leave. No one has a unified view of who's done, who's blocking, or how long each step is taking.

The Scenario

It's 8am. The patient is clinically ready to go home. Pharmacy hasn't finished med reconciliation. Transport isn't scheduled. Case management is waiting on insurance authorization. The charge nurse is calling each department individually trying to find the bottleneck — again.

The EHR tracks the clinical status. It doesn't coordinate the operational work that actually gets patients out the door.

What's Actually Breaking

  • Parallel tasks are invisible — each department knows their own status but no one sees the full picture.
  • There's no accountability mechanism — tasks sit unacknowledged with no timer or escalation.
  • Status chasing is manual — charge nurses spend hours making calls to find blockers that a workflow could surface automatically.

How Pathways Handles It

Every department in motion at once — with full visibility into what's blocking the bed.

Discharge Order
Physician marks discharge-ready in the EHR; Pathways trigger fires instantly
Parallel Tasks Created
Simultaneous tasks go to pharmacy, transport, case management, and all required departments
Live Dashboard
Charge nurse sees real-time status — complete, in progress, or blocking
SLA per Department
Each task has a configurable completion window
SLA: per-dept · configurable
Escalation on Stall
Missed windows escalate to department leads automatically
All Clear — Bed Freed
All tasks complete; patient discharged; bed marked available
Powered by Pathways capabilities:
Parallel Task Assignment Multi-Department Coordination Configurable SLA Timers Escalation Chains EHR Integration

Every workflow is configurable to your protocols, team structure, and EHR environment — no custom development required.

The Outcome

What changes when coordination is built into the workflow.

Faster
Bed Turnover
Time from "discharge ready" to "patient out" reduced
One
Source of Truth
Every department sees the same real-time status — no calls, no guessing
Zero
Status-Chasing Calls
Automatic visibility replaces manual coordination

More Workflows Like This

See how Pathways handles adjacent coordination challenges.

Medication Alert Management
Critical alerts assigned, tracked, and escalated — never lost in a message thread.
See workflow
Care Transition Management
Structured digital handoffs with required fields and confirmed receipt at every transfer.
See workflow
Room Turnover Coordination
Automatic housekeeping notification on patient exit, with real-time completion tracking.
See workflow

See Discharge Coordination in Your Environment

We'll map your current discharge process, identify the bottlenecks, and show you exactly how Pathways would handle it.

Schedule a Workflow Assessment