Why Is Operating Room Management So Crucial?

by Raynetta Stansil Independent Healthcare Consultant

Operating room management focuses on maximizing the operational efficiency at a hospital. The act of coordinating all parts of an operating room is centered around ensuring patient safety, providing surgeons with the proper access for timely procedures, maximizing the efficient use of staff and supplies, decreasing patient delays, and enhancing satisfaction among the surgical team. Operating room management has gained greater scrutiny because of the increasing market pressures on hospitals from competitors to reduce their operating costs.

Operating costs for an operating room can include the physical space, technology and instruments, disposables, and staffing. With these operating costs on a rise, hospital administrators have focused their attention towards maximizing operating room efficiency for increased profitability. This focus, in addition to the increased demand for elective surgery, has led to a rapid need for efficient facilities. Many facilities are hiring a medical director specifically to assist with management. In some instances, all three branches of surgery, anesthesia, and nursing will be represented in the daily operating room management meetings. By working cohesively, these three fields can mobilize all resources necessary to maximize operating room productivity.

To assist with operating room management, key performance indicators (KPIs) need to be established. KPIs across room utilization and scheduling, case start times, room turnover, and staffing can be evaluated. For room utilization and scheduling, items to be considered include daily schedule management, guidelines for case scheduling accuracy, block time slots, utilization thresholds per block allocation, block release timing, case balance by week, and scheduling case start times based on previous week’s data. Case start times can also be evaluated by reviewing first case on-time starts, all cases on-time starts, minutes delayed, and after-hours case times. Once that data is compiled, the root cause can be determined for case delays and protocol can then be developed to reduce delays in the future.

Room turnover times should also be calculated as a piece of your operating room’s management. Turnover times should look at patient in and out times and include defined criteria for an effective room turnover. Communication between the hospital personnel is critical for efficient management to ensure the cleaning of the room can start as quickly as possible while the surgical team and supplies are prepped to begin their procedure as soon as the room is ready. A well-staffed operating room can be key to all the metrics above. To ensure your operating room is staffed appropriately, schedules should be based on case demand, with the appropriate skill mix, defined roles within the team, and adequate room coverage.

By establishing KPIs for your facility’s operating room management, determinations can be made to continually improve the efficiency and consistency of the services being offered to all patients. Through greater efficiency, cost savings and improved patient care results will also increase.

About the Author

Independent Healthcare Consultant and Clinical Educator at Surgical Solutions.