orm_october-2023 - 4

Editorial
EDITORIAL
ADVISORY BOARD
* Amy L. Bethel, MPA, BSN, RN, NE-BC, Education
Coordinator, OR Business Management
Conference, Des Moines, IA
* Heather David, MSN, CRNP, AGACNP-BC, CSSYB,
Patient Safety Analyst III, ECRI, Plymouth Meeting,
PA
* Brian S. Dawson, MSN, RN, CNOR, CSSM, System
VP, Perioperative Services, Common Spirit Health,
Denver, CO
* Claire Everson, RN, CNOR, CCAP, Clinical Educator
and Consultant, Bloomfield Hills, MI
* Diane Fecteau, MSA, RN, CASC, NE-BC, Executive
Director, Maine Medical Center Scarborough Surgery
Center, Scarborough, ME
*
Ayumi Fielden, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CPAN,
Professional Practice Leader, Houston Methodist
Hospital, Houston, TX
* Cynthia Hess, MSN, RN, FNP-C, RT(R)(CT)(ARRT),
Director of Nursing, Northeast Missouri Ambulatory
Surgery Center, Hannibal, MO
* Tracy Hoeft-Hoffman, MBA, MSN, RN, CASC,
Administrator, Heartland Surgery Center, Kearney, NE
* Beverly Kirchner, BSN, RN, CNOR, CASC, Chief Compliance
Officer, SurgeryDirect, Highland Village, TX
* Natasha Luster, MSN, RN, CNOR, Director of
Surgical and Cardiology Services, Wilson Health,
Sidney, OH
*
Casey Orth-Nebitt, MSN, RN, CNOR, Director of
Surgery, Buena Vista Regional Medical Center,
Storm Lake, IA
* Kaye Reiter, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Perioperative
Executive, Denver, CO
* John Rosing, MHA, FACHE, Executive Vice
President and Principal, Patton Healthcare
Consulting, Naperville, IL
* Shawn A. Sefton, MBA, BSN, RN, President, Sefton
Healthcare Advisors, Boston, MA
* Mark R. Staun, Esq., Hartley Law Group PLLC,
Charleston, WV
* Rosemary Welde, MBA, BSN, RN, BCC, Healthcare
Consultant and Coach, Belmont, CA
* Monica Young, MBA, RN, DNP, FACHE, CNOR,
CASC, NEA-BC, VP, Perioperative Services, Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
help measure productivity in perioperative
is an important practice, but how
and where to apply that data and translate
it into a narrative that accurately
represents departmental operations is
maybe where it gets tricky. And it does
not help that each facility does it differently-as
previously stated, there is no
perioperative national standard for this.
Benchmarking in perioperative
Outpatient surgery interviewed a panel
of surgical facility leaders and asked
them which benchmarks they think
matter the most. Here are the top 10
benchmarks they consider crucial in
surgical services:
1. First case on-time starts (FCOTS).
Punctuality in starting the first surgical
procedure of the day is key
for setting the tone for that day's
operations. FCOTS is a KPI of efficiency
and patient satisfaction. This
OR Manager issue also includes the
methodology and results of a yearlong
quality improvement initiative
performed at a pediatric facility to
improve FCOTS (pp 31, 33-35).
2. Staff hours per case. Tracking the
number of staff hours required for
each surgical case is essential to
manage labor costs effectively. The
benchmark is typically 6 to 8 staff
hours per case.
3. Costs as a percentage of net revenue.
Monitoring costs such as salaries,
supplies, and total expenses
as a percentage of net revenue
helps to assess financial performance
and efficiency.
4. Turnover time. The time it takes to
prepare the OR for the next surgical
procedure should be minimized to
optimize OR efficiency.
If you would like to get more involved with
OR Manager, please contact Tarsilla Moura,
senior editor, at tmoura@accessintel.com.
We would love to hear from you!
5. Block time utilization. Ensuring that
surgeons use their reserved block
time efficiently is vital to maximizing
OR capacity.
6. Surgical site infections (SSIs). The
goal is to have zero SSIs; this
benchmark involves tracking factors
4
OR Manager | October 2023
such as the timely administration
of antibiotics to reduce the risk of
infections.
7. Patient satisfaction. This is a holistic
measure of the overall surgical
experience, reflecting how well patients
are treated by staff, anesthesia,
nurses, and physicians.
8. Delayed discharge. Understanding
the reasons for delayed patient discharge
from the post-anesthesia
care unit (PACU) is essential for
identifying and addressing bottlenecks
in the surgical process.
9. Referral sources. Tracking the
sources of patient referrals helps
facilities understand where their patients
come from and detect any
changes in referral patterns.
10. Physician case costs. Comparing
the costs of similar procedures
within the same specialty among
different physicians can lead to
cost-saving insights and process
improvement initiatives.
OR Manager is committed to helping
our audience demystify how benchmarking
is used to assess and improve
productivity. But more importantly, we
seek to arm you with the tools to break
down the complexity of the OR and
present the reality of your department
to all the relevant stakeholders in a
way that gets everyone on the same
page. ORM
-Tarsilla Moura
References
O'Connor D. How Do You Measure
Up? Outpatient Surgery. October 1,
2013.
Saver C. Maximizing productivity measurement:
Part 1. OR Manager.
2023;39(9): 1, 23-27.
Saver C. Survey: Surgical volumes
surge in midst of staffing woes. OR
Manager. 2023;39(9): 1, 18-21.
Wu Y, Li S, Yuan J, et al. Benchmarking:
a novel measuring tool for outcome
comparisons in surgery. Int J
Surg. 2023 Mar 1;109(3):419-428.
www.ormanager.com
https://www.aorn.org/outpatient-surgery/article/2013-October-how-do-you-measure-up https://www.ormanager.com/maximizing-productivity-measurement-part-1/ https://www.ormanager.com/survey-surgical-volumes-surge-in-midst-of-staffing-woes/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10389472/ http://www.ormanager.com
orm_october-2023

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