• How should we
tackle the backlog?
Perhaps the most chal-
lenging aspect of your
return plans has to do
with case mix and
staffing challenges.
How do you even
decide which delayed
cases to tackle first?
Elective procedures at
Ms. Dennis's facility
are being staggered, with the biggest service line, ortho, being rolled
out first, followed by urology.
"This way I can see how the scheduling impacts my staffing
matrix," says Ms. Dennis. As her facility assesses the volume of its
top service lines, it will be able to staff accordingly and prevent
long operating hours, something that it wouldn't have avoided if
all service lines started simultaneously.
Speaking of extended hours, something the roadmap mentions as a
means of increasing OR/procedural time as you ramp up cases, you
may do well to exercise caution here — at least until your staff
adjusts to the return.
"You don't want to burn out your staff," says Ms. Dennis. "You
will lose your staff to other centers if you focus on volume at the
expense of your people."
Another tactic she's using to bolster case efficiency is the removal of
block scheduling. "I'm doing all open blocks for scheduling," says Ms.
Dennis. "I have a team of five doctors who assess the urgency and effi-
cacy of the cases and we forecast out three days in advance to try and
M A Y 2 0 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 1
• ALTERNATE USE Smoke evacuators can capture viruses such as SARS, HPV or
HIV at a 99.9% efficiency rate.
Vangie
Dennis,
RN,
MSN,
CNOR,
CMLSO
