Abstract: A method for identifying patients for discharge from a general ward in a hospital, including: calculating a transition score of a patient based upon patient vital sign information; computing a TS upper bound value and a TS lower bound value based upon a set of TS values in a TS time window; determining if a length of stay of the patient is greater than a first time window, greater than an expected length of stay, and greater than a lower evaluation window; determining if a current TS lower bound value is less than a lower threshold; and producing an indication that that the patient is to be evaluated for discharge from the general ward when it is determined that the length of stay of the patient is greater than the first time window, greater than the expected length of stay, and greater than the lower evaluation window and that the current TS lower bound value is less than the lower threshold.