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Late operating room starts: experience with an education trial
A Truong1, M J Tessler, S J Kleiman
1Department of Anaesthesia, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Montréal Québec.
Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia = Journal Canadien D'Anesthesie
|December 1, 1996
Summary
Late operating room starts persist despite interventions, with 65.5% of patients still delayed. Improving operating room efficiency requires cooperation from anesthesia and surgical teams.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Surgical Operations
- Patient Flow Optimization
Background:
- Late starts of first cases in operating rooms (ORs) pose a significant challenge to hospital efficiency.
- Previous assessments identified causes of inefficiency in OR scheduling and patient flow.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the persistent problem of late first case starts in the operating theatres at SMBD-Jewish General Hospital.
- To determine the impact of implemented remedial actions on operating room start times.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective chart audit was conducted, analyzing two separate two-week periods (October 1993 and October 1995).
- Data included patient entry times into the OR for 90 elective cases (1993) and 87 elective cases (1995).
- Late starts were defined as patient entry after 07:45 hr; corrective measures were implemented between audits.
Main Results:
- The initial audit in 1993 revealed 77.8% of cases started late, with 1101 minutes lost.
- Following interventions, the second audit in 1995 showed a reduction to 65.5% of late starts, with 601 minutes lost.
- The average delay per late case decreased significantly (P < 0.05) from 15.73 min to 10.54 min.
Conclusions:
- Late operating room starts remain a common issue, indicating ongoing challenges in achieving timely surgical scheduling.
- Modest improvements were observed, but significant further gains in operating room efficiency are contingent upon the timely arrival of anesthesia and surgical personnel.