Computerized O.R. scheduling: is it an accurate predictor of surgical time?

The goal of this project was to determine whether a standardized surgical time, generated by the Operating Room Information System (ORIS), could be used as an accurate predictor of actual surgical time. Utilizing retrospective, quantitative data from the ORIS database, frequency distributions by surgical speciality, were completed. Chi-square analysis was applied to determine the significance of the frequency distributions. The study outcome indicates that ORIS computer generated procedure times were not an accurate predictor of actual surgical time. Further follow-up will be required to determine if alternate scheduling methodologies would lead to higher accuracy rates.