Allocation scheduling leads to optimum utilization of operation theater time

Cancellation of surgeries is a regular phenomenon in any hospital, and reasons may vary from clinical to managerial ones. The aim of the study is to suggest scheduling to address the problem of time over run related cancellations. This is an observational and descriptive study conducted in a tertiary care hospital with ophthalmology facilities. The sample size is calculated with 95% confidence interval using Epi Info 6 from the total surgeries performed in the last 5 years (n = 380). Simple random sampling technique was used.

Surgical time for all types of ophthalmic surgeries (n = 582) was observed. Allocation of listed cases to the available operating rooms (ORs) was carried out using the observed time using LEKIN software.

The time over-run of 2 h and 6 h was noted for two units, whereas idle OR time was observed in other units. An average idle time of 19% was noted on each day. Reallocation of the cases to the ORs was carried out taking all the planned cases (of both the operating units of the day) as the number of jobs and all the available ORs as parallel machines using LEKIN software. All the planned cases could be accommodated; still, an average of 17% of the total available operation theater (OT) time was found idle on each day.

Planning of cases using procedure time and scheduling on a daily basis using allocation models with simple algorithms can provide optimal utilization of OTs and can address the time over-run and related cancellations.