How Does TeamSTEPPS Affect Operating Room Efficiency?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Surgical Operations

Background:

• Operating room (OR) efficiency is crucial for healthcare systems.
• Implementing patient safety initiatives can potentially impact workflow.
• TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based teamwork system designed to improve communication and patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) on operating room efficiency.
• To assess changes in operative times, delayed starts, and turnover times following TeamSTEPPS implementation in an otolaryngology service.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective database review of otolaryngology cases at a tertiary care medical center.
• Comparison of operating room efficiency metrics (operative times, delayed starts, turnover times) between the year prior to and the year following TeamSTEPPS implementation.
• Analysis included 1322 cases and 644 turnovers pre-implementation versus 1609 cases and 769 turnovers post-implementation.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant decreases in operating room efficiency were observed in the year after TeamSTEPPS implementation.
• The number of cases and turnovers increased in the post-implementation year, suggesting preserved or improved throughput.
• Key efficiency metrics remained stable despite the introduction of a comprehensive teamwork and patient safety program.

Conclusions:

• The rollout of TeamSTEPPS, a rigorous evidence-based patient safety initiative, preserved operating room efficiency in the otolaryngology service.
• Active participation from all operating room team members in TeamSTEPPS did not negatively affect surgical workflow.
• This study demonstrates that patient safety improvements can be implemented without compromising operational efficiency.