Skip to main content

Surgeons

Surgeons

As a surgeon, you find yourself hobbled by inefficiencies in the operating room suite as well as challenges in getting your patients to appropriate units without long waits in the post anesthesia care unit. Application of scientific operations management tools and techniques and IHO’s recommended approach for flow variability management can help you to:

  • increase your volume
  • decrease elective case delays
  • decrease overtime
  • decrease waiting times for your urgent/emergent patients
  • decrease Post Anesthesia Care Unit boarding and OR holds
  • improve placement of patients in appropriate units after surgery, and
  • improve quality of care on your inpatient units by ensuring a steadier nurse-to-patient staffing ratios
C. Daniel Smith, MD; Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic Florida at the Partnership for Patients New Jersey kick-off on January 30, 2012

IHO’s Recommended Approach

Separating the unscheduled (i.e. emergent/urgent) surgical flow from the scheduled (i.e. elective) flow and providing separate resources for each has been shown to vastly improve surgeons’ ability to provide high quality care for both patient streams. Unscheduled patients are able to receive operating room services within clinically acceptable waiting times determined by you. Scheduled patients receive on-schedule, high quality care from specialty based teams driven by a work-until-the-work-is-done ethos. At the same time you are able to get even more cases done within prime time.

Frederic Ryckman, MD; Vice President of System Capacity and Perioperative Operations, Transplant Surgeon, Clinical Director of Surgery

Smoothing your elective schedule further improves quality of care for your patients by increasing the likelihood of getting your patients admitted to the appropriate unit after surgery without unnecessary delays, and a much steadier nurse-to-patient staffing level on the inpatient units ensuring high quality and patient safety.

Keith Lewis, MD, RPh; Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine (This video is an excerpt from Joint Commission Resources’ video about Managing Patient Flow)