How to grow revenue and cut costs in the operating room service line are addressed in this brief article by the firm Surgical Directions. There are some actual data* drawn from their client database included in a table:
- Turnover time (inpatient) less than or equal to 30 minutes
- Turnover time (outpatient) less than or equal to 20 minutes
- 1075 annual cases per OR (capacity)
Also provided are data for block time utilization and on-time starts.
*I contacted Jeff Peters of Surgical Directions to confirm that these are actual data.
** This blog post has been amended thanks to helpful comments of one of our blog readers who is an expert in this field. We appreciate readers’ input.
Source: Better business performance is a critical competency. OR Manager;29(4):20-22, Apr. 2013. Click here for full text: http://www.ormanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/0413_ORM_20_OR_Business_Perf.pdf Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org
Filed under: Benchmarking, Best practices, Efficiency, Posted by Kim Garber, Surgical suite |
American Hospital Association Resource Center Blog 
I have some serious reservations about using the term, “best practices” when referring to OR turnover times. A benchmark does not equal “best practice,” it is a measuring tool. Furthermore, the OR Manager article does not define these turnover times as “best practice.” It merely provides a table of performance metrics and benchmarks. I would also question the validity and source of the “data” used to “clarify that these are best-practices” and would like to review the scientific evidence that supports it.
Turnover time is a very broad term that is influenced by a variety of factors and can also have different starting and stopping points, depending upon the facility. While it is important to reduce waste and improve efficiency for any procedure, “best practice” is the realization that patient safety trumps reducing turnover time.