{"id":16803,"date":"2022-12-15T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T22:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=16803"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:07:44","slug":"i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building a culture of innovation in health care is tough, especially when you have nearly 23,000 Mission Partners across multiple cities and states. But OSF Innovation<\/a> is making it happen by developing hospital-based Innovation Hubs<\/a> where anyone across the Ministry can learn to engage in improvement, creative thinking and executing solutions.<\/p>\n

The first hub was launched this year at OSF HealthCare Saint Paul Medical Center<\/a> in Mendota, Illinois, to cover the I-80 Region. This also included the kickoff of an OSF Trailblazer Challenge<\/a>, where Mission Partners could win the chance to test, develop and pilot solutions to improve the hospital discharge process.<\/p>\n

This led to 39 ideas, with four being selected for either further development or implementation. As part of a four-part blog series, we will highlight each of the finalists.<\/p>\n

Getting patients engaged in the discharge process<\/h2>\n

Katy McDonald, a Performance Improvement Specialist for OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center<\/a> in Ottawa, Illinois, was driven to address gaps in communication during the discharge process. This was personal for Katy. She could recall her mom’s difficulties assisting her grandfather while he was sick and in the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was mentally exhausting for my mom because she needed the right information to prepare my grandfather\u2019s home for ongoing care,\u201d said Katy. \u201cBut it was also mentally exhausting for the medical care team working so hard to keep patients stable enough to go home without having to return to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Katy<\/a><\/p>\n

This inspired Katy to submit an idea for a discharge checklist that could be used when a patient gets ready to leave the hospital. With help from the OSF Innovation Studio<\/a>, Katy and her team were able to build out the idea.<\/p>\n

The digital checklist which can also be on paper includes everything a patient and their caregiver need to know about the discharge process, including education about treatment, questions to ask, a five-star report of different skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes in the area and a section to write notes. The idea is for patients to receive the checklist upon admission, so they can walk through the discharge process with their clinical team when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things patients must learn and remember upon hospital discharge, causing anxiety and confusion,\u201d said Katy. \u201cHaving all of that information at their fingertips gives patients the ability to engage in that process and know the steps they need to take to discharge or transition into that next level of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a pitch to a panel of judges, Katy and her team including Danielle Hailey, Heather Laatz and Tammy Sheehan were selected to continue working on their solution. They have now engaged with resources from OSF IT, among others, as they move forward with further developing and testing their idea.<\/p>\n

We are all innovators<\/h2>\n

The development of Innovation Hubs and Trailblazer Challenges is just one way OSF Innovation is working to dispel the idea that innovation only happens in Peoria, and that everyone can harness their gifts toward creating solutions to transform health care. These hubs will grow innovation competency, leading to faster translation of ideas and an increase of organic innovation champions, like Katy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge for the I-80 Region was an opportunity for the broader OSF Innovation division to share its tools and abilities with us so that we can solve our own unique patient needs,\u201d said Katy. \u201cIt\u2019s been so fun to dream big and collaborate with my fellow Mission Partners on ideas like this that can make a difference for the people we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mission Partners like Katy, who are willing not just to point out a problem, but to creatively think about how to fix it, are critical to the Mission of OSF. They have firsthand knowledge of opportunities at the frontlines of care and operations and can courageously make their voice heard, impacting health care delivery for patients across the organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building a culture of innovation in health care is tough, especially when you have nearly 23,000 Mission Partners across multiple cities and states. But OSF Innovation is making it happen by developing hospital-based Innovation Hubs where anyone across the Ministry can learn to engage in improvement, creative thinking and executing solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":16827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[355],"tags":[760,639],"coauthors":[682],"class_list":["post-16803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","tag-hospital-readmissions","tag-mission-partners"],"yoast_head":"\nI-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T22:00:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T15:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Denise Molina-Weiger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Denise Molina-Weiger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/\",\"name\":\"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-15T22:00:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-17T15:07:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58d427bfbb22bd95cf3b3d150fbeb9bb\"},\"description\":\"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Patient talking to loved one and Nurse\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58d427bfbb22bd95cf3b3d150fbeb9bb\",\"name\":\"Denise Molina-Weiger\",\"description\":\"Denise Molina-Weiger is a Writing Coordinator for OSF HealthCare, where she has worked since March 2015. She initially came to OSF to write about the work taking place at the Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center, one of the world\u2019s largest simulation and innovation centers and went on to become the Media Relations Coordinator for OSF Innovation which was developed to help the hospital system lead the way in transforming care. Before joining the OSF HealthCare team, Denise was a reporter for Peoria Public Radio for ten years, writing on everything from politics, housing and transportation issues to hospital care in the region. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in radio broadcasting from Western Illinois University in 2003 and received her master\u2019s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2004. Denise lives in West Peoria with her husband, son and two crazy dogs. In her spare time, she likes to snuggle on the couch with her family and watch cooking shows on Netflix. She loves taking road trips with her family and then complaining about it when they are over.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dweiger\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist","description":"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist","og_description":"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2022-12-15T22:00:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-17T15:07:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Denise Molina-Weiger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist","twitter_description":"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630-2.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Denise Molina-Weiger","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/","name":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-15T22:00:37+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-17T15:07:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58d427bfbb22bd95cf3b3d150fbeb9bb"},"description":"Katy McDonald is one of four Mission Partners who recently got the chance to develop her idea to improve the hospital discharge process.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Patient talking to loved one and Nurse"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/i-80-trailblazer-challenge-discharge-checklist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I-80 Trailblazer Challenge: Discharge checklist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58d427bfbb22bd95cf3b3d150fbeb9bb","name":"Denise Molina-Weiger","description":"Denise Molina-Weiger is a Writing Coordinator for OSF HealthCare, where she has worked since March 2015. She initially came to OSF to write about the work taking place at the Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center, one of the world\u2019s largest simulation and innovation centers and went on to become the Media Relations Coordinator for OSF Innovation which was developed to help the hospital system lead the way in transforming care. Before joining the OSF HealthCare team, Denise was a reporter for Peoria Public Radio for ten years, writing on everything from politics, housing and transportation issues to hospital care in the region. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in radio broadcasting from Western Illinois University in 2003 and received her master\u2019s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2004. Denise lives in West Peoria with her husband, son and two crazy dogs. In her spare time, she likes to snuggle on the couch with her family and watch cooking shows on Netflix. She loves taking road trips with her family and then complaining about it when they are over.","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dweiger\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Jeff Rowden","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/I-80-Blog-1_1200x630.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16803"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20332,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803\/revisions\/20332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16803"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=16803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}