Boosting efficiency in the endoscopy suite: integrating team workflows improves productivity and minimizes cost

Inefficiencies in the endoscopy suite cause frustration for physicians, hospital administrators, staff, and patients. Turnover time (TOT), the time between one case ending and another beginning, is subjectively disproportionate between various team members. We aimed to define perceptions of TOT and target steps within the process to improve efficiency.

This was a prospective cohort study at a tertiary center outpatient endoscopy unit. Phase I aimed to identify the TOT process components based on time stamps in the electronic medical record (N = 686). We defined gastroenterologist perceived TOT (pTOT), anesthesia pTOT, and standard TOT (sTOT). TOT length was calculated for each subgroup. Patient transport was identified as an intervenable target. In Phase II, the task of patient transport moved from the anesthesiology team to endoscopy nurses. Mean TOT and proportion of cases with sTOT <15 minutes' preintervention (n = 2192) and postintervention (n = 292) were compared.

Seven key TOT components were identified that explain variations in pTOT. Average anesthesia pTOT was 15 minutes, whereas average gastroenterologist pTOT was 34 minutes (25.9% vs 57.2% of case length; P = .0007). In Phase II, mean sTOT improved from 18.51 to 14.25 minutes (P < .0001), and proportion of sTOT within 15 minutes improved from 41.79% to 58.90% (P < .0001). This intervention saved 45 minutes per room per day, allowing for a revenue potential of more than $300,000 per year per procedure room.

This study defines variations in TOT and shows that finding imbalances and sharing the workload significantly cuts costs and improves the overall efficiency of the different subgroups in the turnover process.