Measuring quality indicators in the operating room: cleaning and turnover time

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Operations
• Surgical Patient Safety
• Hospital Management

Background:

• Efficient operating room (OR) turnover is crucial for maximizing surgical throughput and patient safety.
• Understanding the time dynamics of cleaning processes within the OR environment is essential for resource optimization.
• Existing literature often lacks detailed analysis of concurrent cleaning times and their relationship with OR turnover.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure the time spent on concurrent cleaning by the cleaning service in the operating room.
• To determine the operating room turnover time.
• To investigate potential associations between cleaning time and surgery magnitude, specialty, time of day, and room size.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory-descriptive study conducted in a university hospital's Surgical Center Unit.
• Data collected from 101 surgeries for cleaning time and 60 surgeries for turnover time.
• Statistical analysis included the Kaplan-Meier method for time analysis and Pearson's correlation for assessing relationships.

Main Results:

• The average time for concurrent cleaning was 7.1 minutes.
• The average operating room turnover time was 35.6 minutes.
• No statistically significant associations were identified between concurrent cleaning time and surgery magnitude, specialty, time of day, or room size.

Conclusions:

• Concurrent cleaning and OR turnover times were quantified, providing baseline data for surgical centers.
• The absence of identified associations suggests that cleaning time is relatively consistent regardless of surgery type or room characteristics.
• Findings can assist nursing staff in optimizing resource allocation and streamlining workflows within the operating room to improve efficiency.