Delays in Perioperative Patient Flow: An Initial Analysis

Authors

David Nelson, MD, MBA, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Kent Berg, MD, MBA, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Rebecca Barnett, MD, MBChB, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Oren Guttman, MD, MBA, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow

Files

Description

• When considering the operating room (OR) suite as a hospital business unit, one must not only acknowledge its revenue-earning contribution to financial solvency but also the potential for margin-eroding cost when utilized inefficiently. 1
• One particularly challenging contributor to perioperative inefficiency is when patients are prevented from moving out of the OR into downstream phases of care once surgery has been completed. These so-called “PACU delays” (also known as recovery room admission delays) are particularly concerning for OR leadership because they increase direct labor costs and result in opportunity cost when additional surgery is prevented from being performed
• At Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, PACU delays increased in frequency and magnitude in a relatively short period of time, prompting data-driven evaluation and innovation to determine underlying cause.

Publication Date

3-8-2019

Keywords

patient flow, operating room

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Comments

Presented at the 2019 Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors Summit

Document Type

Poster

Recommended Citation

Nelson, MD, MBA, David; Berg, MD, MBA, Kent; Barnett, MD, MBChB, Rebecca; and Guttman, MD, MBA, Oren, "Delays in Perioperative Patient Flow: An Initial Analysis" (2019). Department of Anesthesiology Posters. 5.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/anposters/5