ORX Proceedings
Page 10
Are Your ORs Truly Efficient?
Never stop striving to improve patient throughput and room turnovers.
The audience gasped in amazement and applauded when Tom McLaren, RN, BSN, MBA, CNOR, told them he slashed room turnover times from 55 minutes to 15 minutes, dropped day-of-surgery cancellation rates to 1% and improved the rate of patients who are ready for surgery without delay to an average of 95% in the 49 ORs he oversees as the director of surgical services at Florida Hospital Orlando.
To achieve those incredible results, Mr. McLaren created a quality improvement project focused on improving room turnovers and patient readiness. He standardized pre-op routines and paperwork. He emphasized a change in culture and replaced managers who didn't buy into the improvements he was trying to make.
********
BUSY MAN Tom McLaren, RN, BSN, MBA, CNOR, manages 49 ORs at Florida Hospital Orlando.
*********
"Don't put up with deadwood leaders in your facility," says Mr. McLaren, who's now working with a new set of managers at his hospital. "You're doing a disservice to the staff by keeping them on." How are key benchmark times defined in your ORs? Make sure everyone's clicking their stopwatches at the same time. At Mr. McLaren's facility, for example, case start times are noted when the patient arrives in the OR, room turnover is the time between the previous patient leaving the OR and the next patient entering, and surgeon turnover is the time between the surgeon (or assistant)
