TY - JOUR T1 - Strengthening Hospital Capacity for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation of Electronic Patient Discharge TT - JF - JRH JO - JRH VL - 11 IS - 5 UR - http://jrh.gmu.ac.ir/article-1-1884-en.html Y1 - 2021 SP - 305 EP - 312 KW - COVID-19 KW - Six sigma KW - Patient discharge KW - Hospital N2 - Background: Increasing hospital capacity to cover the service demands is an important priority during an epidemic or a pandemic. The aim of this study was to increase hospital capacity using the Six Sigma method to improve the patient discharge process. Methods: This was a quantitative study. The Pre- and post-intervention study was conducted in a big hospital designated for COVID-19 patients. The patient discharge process was evaluated and improved based on seven sub-processes and following the Six Sigma model, including defining the problem, measuring time in each of the discharge stations, analysis times and process, improvement process, and control. Results: Implementation of the electronic patient discharge led to a 51.9% decrease in discharge time from 7.3  h during the pre-intervention period to 3.8 h post-intervention (P< 0.0001). According to the Sigma level, the yield and defects per million opportunities of the discharge process also improved to 55%. Conclusion: Increasing hospital capacity by improving the discharge time is a quick action to cover the demand created during pandemics. Also, about 32 beds can be obtained by applying the Six Sigma model to improve the discharge process in a short time and at a very low cost. M3 10.32598/JRH.11.5.1802.1 ER -