Take requests. Not all surgeons will want or need block time at
your facility. Ask your docs what days and times they'd prefer
block scheduling. 0730 start times are, of course, going to be the most
popular and everybody will want to operate on Tuesdays. Then take it
one step further and run those days and times by each surgeon's
scheduler, who'll likely have a better sense of how reasonable the
doc's request is.
Crunch the numbers. Assess each surgeon's current utilization
over a 6- to 12-month period, a timeframe wide enough to
account for vacations and fluctuations in the schedule. Remember
that doctors love numbers and will challenge any data you give them.
You can run a monthly utilization report from your scheduling system
or manually count the hours a physician spent in the OR.
Compare requested time with time actually used. Compare the
actual time a surgeon used to his requested block time. For a
visual comparison, make a block template that lists each day and time
that the surgeon requested and what he has actually used. Not surpris-
ingly, you'll probably find that the surgeon has requested more time
than he has used, or historically can use. Use this data to illustrate to
the surgeons the difference in the time a surgeon has requested and
the time he's likely to actually use. The goal is to mirror block time
with time used (see "Drawing Up a Winning Schedule").
Prepare to negotiate. With your data in hand, show each surgeon
what he has used and what he has requested. Negotiate with the
doctors, with input from their schedulers, what days and times will
work for them and for you. Not everybody can have OR2 at 0730 every
Tuesday. Assure them their times are not set in stone and their block
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