A Multidisciplinary Discharge Timeout Checklist Improves Patient Education and Captures Discharge Process Errors.

Objective: To design and implement a discharge timeout checklist, and to assess its effects on patients' understanding as well as the potential impact on preventable medical errors surrounding hospital discharges to home.

Methods: Based on the structure successfully used for surgical procedures and using the Model for Improvement framework, we designed a discharge checklist to review and assess patients' understanding of discharge medications, catheters, home care plans, follow-up, symptoms, and who to call with problems after discharge. In parallel, we developed a process of integrating the checklist into the discharge process after routine discharge procedures were completed.