Operating Room Throughput Efficiency Improvement at LewisGale Medical Center, Salem VA

LewisGale Medical Center had inefficient processes throughout its operating room, which led to a decrease in quality of care. This was consistently shown through negative patient experiences and excessive surgeon idle time. Time studies, interviews, observations, and mapping revealed that these inefficiencies were due to miscommunications with surgical scheduling, substandard physician turnaround time (PTAT), and inconsistent tool storage.With our chosen approach to follow the patient journey, defined as the steps beginning from when a patient arrives at the medical center to the end where they arrive at the post-operation recovery room, a wide range of processes could be covered. These processes were connected to the operating room and were chosen to best meet the client’s needs. In doing so, it ensured the best results possible with the attributed self-set objectives. Based on initial goals set with the clients and the current progress, came the following results: a decrease in cancellation rate from 11% to 7.4%, a decrease in PTAT from 50 minutes to 35 minutes, and a decrease in room turnaround time (RTAT) from 35 minutes to 30 minutes. Improvement in these areas will increase patient care and employee satisfaction throughout the LewisGale operating room facility.