Use of Visualization in Improving the Discharge Process in a Hospital 

 Challenge 

 Optimising the patient discharge process is a key issue in hospitals . Often , there is a significant   delay between the decision for discharge and the completion of the discharge proceedings .   Thus , the patient is not able to go home on time . I had been assigned the task of improving   the discharge process . There are many procedures which form a part of the discharge process   and multiple stakeholders are involved . Many of these stakeholders work in silos and do not   have much insights about the parts of the discharge process which are not under their   purview . Since many of the tasks are interdependent , it is essential that the various   stakeholders work in a coordinate manner so the entire process can be streamlined . 

 Selection 

 I decided to use visualisation as a design thinking tool for addressing this challenge . I am a   very visual person . I find it easy to conceptualise and create visuals to depict complex   problems . As the last lecture video in week 1 puts it , visualization is a key component of the   way we communicate .   Whiteboard illustrations , flow charts , power point presentations and   animations were some of the potential visualisation tools . The business intelligence   dashboard available in the hospital was another potential candidate . 

 Application 

 An initial meeting was conducted which included participation by all stakeholders . The entire   discharge process was visualised using a whiteboard exercise . The various steps were   illustrated and their interrelationships were highlighted . Flow charts were used to depict   processes in detail . This helped the stakeholders to gain insights about the overall process .   They also became aware of the interdependence of the various processes . Communication   plans were created to promote interdepartmental communication . A data visualisation model   was created in the hospital business intelligence tool for displaying a real time view of the   movement of patients through the system . The visualisation highlighted bottlenecks in the   process . 

 Insight 

 The meeting was able to achieve its objective of increasing the coordination among the   various stakeholders . Everyone participated actively and brought forth various ideas for   improving the efficiency . The ideas generated were discussed among the participants to   further improve upon them . The whiteboard visualisations were modified and added upon   based on the feedback . 

 Approach 

 Overall , it was a very good experience in using visualisation in addressing this challenge . If I   had to address a similar challenge again , I would use visualisation because it was very effective   in illustrating the problem and to ensure comprehension among the various stakeholders . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Use of Visualization in Improving the Discharge Process in a Hospital 

 Challenge 

 Optimising the patient discharge process is a key issue in hospitals . Often , there is a significant   delay between the decision for discharge and the completion of the discharge proceedings .   Thus , the patient is not able to go home on time . I had been assigned the task of improving   the discharge process . There are many procedures which form a part of the discharge process   and multiple stakeholders are involved . Many of these stakeholders work in silos and do not   have much insights about the parts of the discharge process which are not under their   purview . Since many of the tasks are interdependent , it is essential that the various   stakeholders work in a coordinate manner so the entire process can be streamlined . 

 Selection 

 I decided to use visualisation as a design thinking tool for addressing this challenge . I am a   very visual person . I find it easy to conceptualise and create visuals to depict complex   problems . As the last lecture video in week 1 puts it , visualization is a key component of the   way we communicate .   Whiteboard illustrations , flow charts , power point presentations and   animations were some of the potential visualisation tools . The business intelligence   dashboard available in the hospital was another potential candidate . 

 Application 

 An initial meeting was conducted which included participation by all stakeholders . The entire   discharge process was visualised using a whiteboard exercise . The various steps were   illustrated and their interrelationships were highlighted . Flow charts were used to depict   processes in detail . This helped the stakeholders to gain insights about the overall process .   They also became aware of the interdependence of the various processes . Communication   plans were created to promote interdepartmental communication . A data visualisation model   was created in the hospital business intelligence tool for displaying a real time view of the   movement of patients through the system . The visualisation highlighted bottlenecks in the   process . 

 Insight 

 The meeting was able to achieve its objective of increasing the coordination among the   various stakeholders . Everyone participated actively and brought forth various ideas for   improving the efficiency . The ideas generated were discussed among the participants to   further improve upon them . The whiteboard visualisations were modified and added upon   based on the feedback . 

 Approach 

 Overall , it was a very good experience in using visualisation in addressing this challenge . If I   had to address a similar challenge again , I would use visualisation because it was very effective   in illustrating the problem and to ensure comprehension among the various stakeholders .
### Output: 