OS_1310_part2_Layout 1 10/7/13 10:25 AM Page 33
B E N C H M A R K I N G
S
urgery is awash in statistics, perhaps more so than any other
branch of medicine. To know how you're doing in the operating
room, just compare your performance against surgery's many
magic numbers and hallowed yardsticks: turnover times, infection
rates, block time utilization, first case on-time starts. But which numbers matter most? Which are the best barometers for how your ORs
are doing? We asked a panel of surgical facility leaders for the benchmarks that matter most. Here are their top 10.
1
First case on-time starts
"Just like breakfast is the most important meal of the day, on-time
starts are the most important benchmark for how your whole day
will go," says Faith True, MBA, BSN, RN-NE-BC, CNOR, CGRN, CIC,
CHL, director of perioperative services at SoutheastHEALTH in Cape
Girardeau, Mo.
SoutheastHEALTH feels so strongly about its on-time starts that it
made it a team outcome metric to determine individual merit raises
for the entire perioperative area, including anesthesia, says Ms. True.
They began last year in the 40% to 50% range of on-time starts, "so we
really had nowhere else to go but up," says Ms. True. And up they've
gone. The medical director of anesthesia speaks to every late surgeon
every day to determine why he was late. If need be, they'll push delinquent surgeons' start times back in 15-minute increments (0815, 0830,
0845 and sometimes even 0900) if they consistently can't get to their
first case on time. "Now," says Ms. True, "we're up to 80% and sometimes 90+% on-time first starts."
Many facility managers feel on-time starts are the most important
indicator of operating room efficiency. "If cases don't start on time,
then there is potential for a cascade effect on the cases that follow,"
says Michael S. Seator, MBA, BSN, CNOR, administrative director
O C T O B E R 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
3 3
