your staff with rewards and
recognition. At Geisinger, they
set turnover time goals. They
take an average of what the
turnover time is per service
line and then take a 10% reduc-
tion in that number and that's
the goal for that service line.
They then post the room
turnover times daily on the
communication huddle boards at the OR control desk, so that the
teams can see how they're doing. The top performing teams that
exceed their goal for the service line that they're in that day receive
gift cards for the cafeteria and coffee stand inside the hospital. Their
names are also posted on the huddle board for all to see.
"It gets them engaged in what we're doing," says Ms. Soloski, whose
teams at Geisinger cut the turnover time from an average of 38 min-
utes to an average of 35 minutes across all service lines. "Who doesn't
love a little bit of healthy competition? And who doesn't love a free
cup of coffee?"
8. Sustaining faster turnovers
To keep your turnover times crisp not just today, but for months to come,
you must also address your organizational culture. This means investing
in human factors such as the initial buy-in of key team members and
soliciting frequent feedback with positive reinforcement, says Dr. Ninan.
Remember that everybody on the team plays a role in reducing
turnover times. It's usually an evolving process, as facilities continue
to look for ways big and small to trim turnover times without sacrific-
ing quality care.
OSM
J U N E 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 9
• HEAD STARTERS A scrub tech can help give housekeeping a head
start in turning over the room by starting to gather up the trash.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
