Introduction of a new electronic medical record system has mixed effects on first surgical case efficiency metrics

To evaluate the effect of deploying a new electronic medical record (EMR) system on first case starts in the operating room. Data on first case start times were collected after implementation of a new EMR (Epic) from June 2015 to May 2016, which replaced a legacy system of both paper and electronic records. These were compared to data from the same months in the three proceeding years. First patient in room (FPIR) on time was true if the patient was in operating room before 7:35 AM (or 9:35 AM on Wednesdays) and first case on time start (FCOTS) was true if completion of anesthetic induction was less than 20 min after the patient entered the operating room (or 35 min for cardiac and neurosurgery). Times beyond these cutoffs were quantified as FPIR and FCOTS delays in minutes. Average delays were compared by month with two-sample t tests and 95 % confidence intervals. There was a significant increase in FPIR delays in the first month (11.07 vs. 3.47 min, p < 0.0001), which abated by the fifth month. Post-implementation FCOTS delays improved by the third month (4.53 vs. 7.10 min, p < 0.0001). Both results persisted throughout the study. First month FPIR delays were not limited to any one specialty. EMRs have the potential to improve hospital workflows, but are not without learning curves. FPIR and FCOTS delays return to baseline after a few months, and in the case of FCOTS, can improve beyond baseline.