Time Busters: A Lean team tackles OR turnover
First of 3 articles on applying Lean management to turnover time. Sinai Hospital of Baltimore faced a challenge. The block schedule was maxed out, even though new ORs had been added. There was a need to eke out every available minute. Despite efforts to improve turnover time, it had plateaued…
Restructuring circulator nurse role aids turnover
Second of 3 articles on applying Lean management to turnover time. Efforts to weed waste from turnover time quickly took root in one 10-OR department. Within about a month after OR staff and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) embraced the new process, turnover time decreased from about 26 minutes…
Visual cues help to improve the turnover process
Third of 3 articles on applying Lean management to turnover time. Creating a “visual workplace” is a principle in Lean management. Visual cues have been one solution for improving turnover time at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. In a visual workplace, the goal is to make waste, problems,…
RTLS yields new data for managing patient logistics
A patient arrives for surgery. As soon as she checks in, she receives a wristband with a small locator tag that monitors her progress as she moves through the surgical process. Behind the scenes, the tag is signaling the surgical department’s real-time locating system (RTLS), which sends notices to OR…
Thinking about wireless systems? Consider these tips from an expert
Are you considering wireless technology for tracking patients, staff, equipment, or supplies? Expert tips are offered by Rick Hampton, wireless communications manager for Partners Healthcare. The Boston-based network includes Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General, and affiliated facilities. Many hospitals are weighing decisions about these technologies, which include RTLS (real-time…
Lean boosts OR morale, productivity
Lean management in a teaching hospital’s otolaryngology OR improved efficiency, morale, and finances in a study from the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor. After 18 months: • turnover time (from exit of one patient to arrival of the next) fell by nearly one-third to 29 minutes • turnaround time…
Workflow support in new Johns Hopkins ORs
Staff in the cardiovascular OR area of the new Sheikh Zayed clinical tower at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore will be able to locate certain equipment via computer and use a Skype-like camera system to share images of instruments and supplies with the sterile core and sterile processing unit.…
A safer, faster way for postoperative x-rays
With patient safety as its primary goal, the University of Michigan Health System has created a new process using bar-coded sponges and electronic radiology orders to ensure no items are unintentionally left in a patient during surgery. Electronic orders provide for a standardized process that not only is safer but…
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