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If you have worked as an OR manager for long, you have probably experienced days like this:
- 0630: The day starts with an angry voice mail from an orthopedic surgeon who cannot get on the schedule until next month. Why can’t we figure out a way to fit these cases in sooner?
- 0635: The ‘urgent’ appendectomy scheduled at 0500 did not get started until 0615 because of surgeon tardiness. Now I have another surgeon complaining and angry that his elective start is delayed. How can we better manage urgent/emergent cases?
- 0800: You meet with an anesthesiologist who is tired of constantly running from OR to procedure room to outpatient surgery. Why can’t we create a rational schedule for anesthesia?
- 1030: You walk past the nurse lounge and see five RNs on break because of a lull in the case load. Why can’t we foresee these expensive gaps in the OR schedule?
- 0215: You get a call from finance about your last productivity report. Why can’t we get our cost per case in line with budget?
- 0300: You end the day begging nurses to stay a few extra hours to cover late-afternoon cases. Why can’t we foresee these surges in demand?
Most OR managers face issues like these on a regular basis. Not every day is one problem after another, but most perioperative leaders spend a lot of time trying to balance OR resources with provider needs while keeping costs down.
The good news is that data analytics can help OR leaders address their most common management challenges. Leading surgery departments are now using predictive analytics and other data tools to optimize staff schedules, increase surgeon access, and control cost per case.
How to start leveraging perioperative data
For leaders who want to optimize their OR’s potential, there are several effective entry points to make better use of data analytics:
- One important first step is to turn OR data into usable information with the help of data warehouse capabilities and data visualization software. For some practical steps, see Brian Watha’s insights in EMRs: Data Rich but Information Poor.
- Low utilization drives many problems with surgeon access and nursing productivity. Begin addressing this issue by developing an advanced analytic platform with block schedule dashboards. Brian Watha and Michael Besedick describe this approach in Unlock Hidden Value: How to leverage your OR data to drive financial performance and sustainable change.
- One important key to both OR efficiency and OR quality is to implement a “72-hour rule” for elective surgery patients. Tom Blasco explains the details in Timely Elective Patient Preparation: The Key for Hospitals to Survive and Thrive in a Post-Pandemic World.
- In many ORs, outdated Surgical Information Management System (SIMS) databases make it very difficult to understand and manage costs, charges and operational performance. John Buzzelli outlines the solution in Is it Time to Update Your Surgical System Master Procedure File and Preference Cards Databases?
- Under value-based payment, OR financial performance increasingly depends on cost control and patient outcomes. Again, data analytics plays a big role in the solution. Tom Blasco and Tim Long provide the background in Successful Implementation of Value-Based Surgical Care Using Comprehensive Analytics.
Surgical Directions has helped hospitals nationwide develop powerful data-driven strategies for OR optimization. We are pleased to offer you a free demo of analytics capabilities that could be yours. Contact us to schedule your free demo.
