Resilience in the Surgical Scheduling to Support Adaptive Scheduling System

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Operations Research
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Real-time surgical scheduling faces daily uncertainties impacting Operating Room (OR) efficiency.
• Identifying and mitigating these uncertainties is crucial for preventing delays and ensuring patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a framework for resilient surgical scheduling by identifying uncertainty factors.
• To analyze the impact of uncertainties on real-time surgical scheduling in a hospital setting.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study combining quantitative analysis of pre- and post-surgical scheduling data with qualitative in situ observations.
• Data collected over twenty days of scheduling records and one day of direct observation in a South Korean university hospital.
• Uncertainty factors categorized and leveled for developing decision-making strategies.

Main Results:

• Unconfirmed patient medical conditions and emergency cases are primary drivers of same-day surgery schedule changes.
• Identified factors influencing scheduling include surgery time, overtime, procedure modifications, and duration.
• OR managers actively manage unexpected events to prevent surgical overtime.

Conclusions:

• Integrating a resilience approach to uncertainty identification and change management minimizes risks to personnel and patient safety.
• This strategy enhances coordination among staff and boosts overall surgical scheduling efficiency.
• Promoting system resilience is key to safer and more efficient perioperative care.