Efficiency of Dual Minor Procedure Rooms in Plastic Surgery: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Minor procedure rooms (MPRs) using local anesthesia are an efficient alternative for selected ambulatory procedures, with reduced resource utilization, shorter procedure-related times, and comparable clinical outcomes with traditional operating rooms. However, strategies to optimize MPR workflows and increase procedural capacity remain poorly studied in outpatient plastic surgery. This pilot study evaluated parallelized MPR workflows.

This prospective quasi-experimental pilot study compared 1 versus 2 MPR configurations across 8 outpatient clinic days in New Brunswick, Canada, using the same plastic surgeon. Adult patients undergoing elective plastic surgery procedures under local anesthesia were included. Outcomes included patients treated per day and percentage of the surgeon's clinic time spent providing direct patient care.

The median number of patients treated per clinic day was significantly higher with 2 MPRs than 1 MPR (17.0 vs 9.0 patients/day, P = .02). Two MPRs were associated with less surgeon clinic time outside direct patient care (4.85% vs 32.57%, P = .04) and more time providing direct patient care (95.15% vs 67.43%, P = .04). After adjustment for daily case-mix complexity, 2 MPRs remained independently associated with increased direct patient care time (B = 20.64, 95% CI [10.70, 30.58], P = .003).

A dual-MPR workflow increased patient throughput and direct patient care time while reducing non-clinical downtime. When surgeon time is limiting, parallelizing patient flow across 2 MPRs can reduce idle time and increase the number of patients treated by a single surgeon. Larger multi-center studies are needed to assess safety, patient satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness.