Reducing otolaryngology surgical inefficiency via assessment of tray redundancy

Journal of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery

Brian W Rotenberg²  Ava John-Baptiste¹  Leigh J Sowerby²  Christopher J Chin² 

[1] Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada;Department of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery, Western University, 268 Grosvenor Street, London N6A 4V2, ON, Canada

关键词: Surgery;    Efficiency analysis;    Otolaryngology;   

Others  :  1133158
DOI  :  10.1186/s40463-014-0046-2

 received in 2014-08-08, accepted in 2014-10-30,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Health care costs in Canada continue to rise. As a result of this relentless increase in healthcare spending, ways to increase efficiency and decrease cost are constantly being sought. Surgical treatment is the mainstay of therapy for many conditions in the field of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. The evidence suggests that room exists to optimize tray efficiency as a novel means of improving operating room throughput.

Methods

We conducted a review of instruments on surgical trays for 5 commonly performed procedures between July 5th, 2013 and September 20th, 2013 at St Joseph’s Hospital. The Instrument Utilization Rate was calculated; we then designed new ‘optimized’ trays based on which instruments were used at least 20% of the time. We obtained tray building times from Central Processing Department, then calculated an overall mean time per instrument (to pack the freshly washed instruments). We then determined the time that could be saved by using our new optimized trays.

Results

In total, 226 instrument trays were observed (Table 1). The average Instrument Utilization Rate was 27.8% (+/− 13.1). Our optimized trays, on average, reduced tray size by 57%. The average time to pack one instrument was 17.7 seconds.

Conclusions

By selectively reducing our trays, we plan to reduce tray content by an average of 57%. It is important to remember that this number looks at only 5 procedures in the Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. If this was expanded city-wide to the rest of the departments, the improved efficiency could potentially be quite substantial.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Chin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

【 参考文献 】

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• [3]Penn E, Yasso SF, Wei JL: Reducing disposable equipment waste for tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy cases. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2012, 147(4):615-618.
• [4]Wormer BA, Augenstein VA, Carpenter CL, Burton PV, Yokeley WT, Prabhu AS, Harris B, Norton S, Klima DA, Lincourt AE, Heniford BT: The green operating room: simple changes to reduce cost and our carbon footprint. Am Surg 2013, 79(7):666-671.