Reduction of Surgical Setup in University Hospital with Implementation of Quick Tool Exchange as an Improvement for Patient Safety

Introduction:Patient safety in the surgical environment is a worldwide concern, therefore, improvements in management efficiency and excellence in the quality of services provided in the surgical center are sought. Aim:To analyze the implementation of the Rapid Tool Exchange (TRF) methodology to reduce surgical setup in a university hospital through the improvement of patient safety.Methodology: This was a descriptive crosssectional study conducted between June and December 2015, in which the TRF methodology was implemented based on the lean concept, with adaptation to 13 rooms of a surgical suite of a university hospital in Porto Alegre in five surgical specialties.Project was approved by the institution's Ethics Committee.Results: In all the surgical specialties analyzed, there was a reduction in surgical setup time, with a maximum decrease of eight minutes. Conclusions:The implantation of TRF made it possible to reduce the surgical set-up by validating the times to create a performance indicator, promoting improvements in room utilization rates, optimizing the protocol for safe surgery and promoting quality care.