Starting the first cases of the day on time is key for maintaining the OR schedule. A delay in first case on-time starts (FCOTS) can lead to less OR utilization, greater facility costs, and dissatisfaction among physicians, OR staff, and patients. It’s a problem in many surgical suites, but when…

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Editor's Note In this study from Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, a first case on-time starts (FCOTS) improvement initiative was linked to a higher frequency of FCOTS, which was independently associated with last case on-time ends (LCOTE) and decreased OR overtime costs. Of 12,073 cases (6,095 pre- vs…

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Editor's Note Compared to the historical mean (HM) scheduling approach, the data-driven regression modeling (RM) method improves multiple measures of operative suite efficiency and personnel satisfaction without adversely affecting clinical outcomes, this study finds. The HM approach included case duration of the most recent 4 years, and the RM system…

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Editor's Note In this study, a machine learning algorithm resulted in the most accurate estimation of operative case-time duration. Researcher developed models to predict case-time duration using linear regression and supervised machine learning. Each model included an all-inclusive model, service-specific models, and surgeon-specific models. The data set used included 46,986…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers developed service- and surgeon-specific statistical models using linear regression and machine learning to predict case-time duration at a large academic medical center. Results showed: The machine-learning algorithm had the highest predictive capability. The surgeon-specific was superior to the service-specific model, with higher accuracies and…

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“What we have right now, quite frankly, in healthcare are islands—visible islands of excellence in a sea of invisible failures, with risk lurking just below the waterline. We need to widen those islands of excellence. We need to connect these islands with more dry land. We need to address these…

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As part of a special series on artificial intelligence (AI), OR Manager is taking a deep dive into the many facets of this new technology and its impact on patient care. Part 1 of this introduction to the series (OR Manager, May 2019, 1, 7-11) defined several different types of…

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Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) in Sarasota, Florida, is a Level 2 trauma center with 839 beds and more than 900 physicians. The 430 members of the surgical staff perform more than 24,300 inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures in the 34 operating suites each year. With this level of…

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Editor's Note This study from a large academic medical center finds that the practice of overlapping surgery does not expose patients to increased risk of negative outcomes. Data on operative procedures from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, were used to compare…

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A common strategy for managing OR utilization is block scheduling: Assigning surgical time to individual surgeons or surgeon groups based on their volume. But what sounds like a simple process is often complicated by the potential for dissatisfaction and reduced utilization. Yet done effectively, block scheduling can significantly boost the…

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