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Developing a business case for a regional anesthesia block room: up with efficiency, down with costs
Yusuke Mazda1, Sharon Peacock2, Jesse Wolfstadt3
1Division of Obstetric Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Saitama Medical Center, Kawagoe, Japan.
Implementing a dedicated block room for regional anesthesia in total joint arthroplasty (TJA) significantly reduced operating room (OR) time and increased efficiency. This initiative improved patient care and demonstrated cost-effectiveness for TJA procedures.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology
- Health Services Research
- Orthopedic Surgery
Background:
- Regional anesthesia offers benefits for total joint arthroplasty (TJA) patients.
- However, it requires significant personnel, equipment, and operating room (OR) time.
- A dedicated block room can provide a specialized environment for regional anesthesia, potentially offsetting costs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a business case for implementing a regional anesthesia block room.
- To demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of this program by decreasing OR time for TJA.
Main Methods:
- Prospective quality improvement study.
- Analysis of elective TJA patients between January 2019 and March 2020.
- Inclusion of preintervention (561 patients) and postintervention (432 patients) groups.
Main Results:
- Mean total OR time per surgical case decreased by 23 minutes (166 to 143 min).
- Anesthesia-controlled OR time decreased by 20 minutes (46 to 26 min).
- Increased peripheral nerve block utilization from 63.1% to 87.0% (p<0.001), enabling an additional TJA case per OR list.
Conclusions:
- A comprehensive business plan is essential for implementing a regional anesthesia block room.
- The block room is a cost-effective strategy to enhance patient care and OR efficiency for TJA.
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