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Surgical Scheduling: A Lean Approach to Process Improvement
Author(s) -
Simon Ross William,
Canacari Elena G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/j.aorn.2013.10.008
Subject(s) - orthopedic surgery , block scheduling , scheduling (production processes) , operations management , schedule , patient satisfaction , medicine , computer science , surgery , engineering , psychology , mathematics education , operating system
A large teaching hospital in the northeast United States had an inefficient, paper‐based process for scheduling orthopedic surgery that caused delays and contributed to site/side discrepancies. The hospital's leaders formed a team with the goals of developing a safe, effective, patient‐centered, timely, efficient, and accurate orthopedic scheduling process; smoothing the schedule so that block time was allocated more evenly; and ensuring correct site/side. Under the resulting process, real‐time patient information is entered into a database during the patient's preoperative visit in the surgeon's office. The team found the new process reduced the occurrence of site/side discrepancies to zero, reduced instances of changing the sequence of orthopedic procedures by 70%, and increased patient satisfaction.