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Optimizing Endoscope Reprocessing Resources Via Process Flow Queuing Analysis.

Mark T Seelen¹, Tynan H Friend², Wilton C Levine²

¹Perioperative Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, White 400, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. mseelen@mgh.harvard.edu.

Journal of Medical Systems

|May 6, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Massachusetts General Hospital is merging endoscopy reprocessing facilities to improve patient care. Operations management modeling shows the new facility can handle current volumes and a 90% increase, ensuring patient safety.

Keywords:

Business modeling Endoscopes Healthcare efficiency Patient safety Perioperative resources Planning

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Area of Science:

Healthcare Operations Management
Surgical Technology
Patient Safety Engineering

Background:

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is consolidating older endoscope reprocessing facilities into a new, centralized unit.
The new facility aims to enhance high-level disinfection for operating rooms (ORs) and the Endoscopy Suite, optimizing resource use and patient care.
Resource planning was critical to support approximately 33,000 annual endoscopy cases and finalize staffing and equipment selections.

Purpose of the Study:

To apply operations management methodologies to plan and assess the capacity of a new, merged endoscope reprocessing facility.
To analyze the physical workflow of endoscopes and model future reprocessing capacity.
To identify potential wait times and evaluate the facility's ability to handle current and future case volumes.

Main Methods:

Operations management methodologies were used to analyze physical process flow and map future state capacity.
A multi-server queuing model incorporated historical case and reprocessing volumes to predict wait times.
Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impact of projected case volume growth.

Main Results:

The planned future-state reprocessing facility, with automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) and pre-processing sinks, can accommodate current scope volumes within recommended reprocessing times.
The model indicates the facility can support a volume increase of at least 90% over the next several years.
Mathematical analysis of historical data facilitated significant improvements in a complex perioperative environment.

Conclusions:

Merging endoscope reprocessing facilities with proper planning and modeling can enhance efficiency and patient safety.
The new MGH facility is projected to have substantial capacity for future growth.
Operations management principles offer a straightforward approach to optimizing complex healthcare processes.