Surgical Services
Surviving the global healthcare perfect storm
The authors describe the application of operational planning and capacity management methods to improve patient care, improve revenue, and lower costs. Article
Tools for Improvement - education in operating room management
The University of Iowa has a public access website that provides lecture slides for a comprehensive OR Management course offered by the Carver College of Medicine. Readers may contact the University of Iowa for more information about the course or Web conferencing options.
Original films of Frank B. Gilbreth
Part 1 & Part 2
From Internet Archive website, these films are essentially a summary of work analysis films which were taken by Frank B. Gilbreth between 1910 and 1924 showing a number of industrial operations from which the motion study technique was developed.
This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives.
Producer: Presented by James S. Perkins in collaboration with Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth & Dr. Ralph M. Barnes
Sponsor: Chicago Chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Management
A team at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, Wash., took a lean approach to improving the availability and reliability of anesthesia related equipment in the OR. The team included physicians, staff, and external consultants. The article describes the background of total productive maintenance and how it was applied by a multidisciplinary team including physicians, OR staff, and clinical engineering. View related photos
Vision based recognition of hand gestures is being researched at Purdue University to control a robotic scrub nurse and access images during surgical cases. The research could lead to short case lengths and reduced infections according to the Purdue University News website.
In an article previously published in Industrial Engineer magazine, industrial engineering researchers at Clemson University assisted Cannon Memorial Hospital in Pickens, S.C., in a number of hospital-wide and service specific improvements resulting in increased efficiency.
A recent article in AORN Management Connections by Carina Stanton describes how three healthcare organizations are implementing lean.
Using Lean Six Sigma tools, a hospital redesigns its PAT department process so that all charting is completed 72 hours prior to the day of surgery.
This article profiles Frank Gilbreth and Henry Ford. Gilbreth initiated the study of time and motion in the OR, and Ford was the first to attempt to decrease wasted motion among nursing staff.
Lean tools are used to redesign processes throughout a hospital.
Discussion of applications of lean within the OR.
Improvement projects in surgery, nursing, and the ED are discussed. The process of moving a hospital towards adoption of Lean Six Sigma is also described.
Three successful lean projects are discussed in detail. Specimen Labeling, Surgery and Endoscopy Pre-Op, and Inpatient Nursing Crash Cart projects all demonstrate significant improvement.
New ways to display OR data are proposed in this presentation.
An OR's case scheduling process is studied; improvement projects are proposed.
Reasons for delay in creation of case carts are addressed. SPD often has inefficient workarounds as part of their daily routine.
Surgical services projects often have many barriers to success; this presentation helps illuminate and identify where they may be for your hospital.
A hospital undertakes a systemic improvement of their OR suite. The process and final results are detailed.
A program is proposed that effectively confronts a majority of the issues with scheduling patient surgeries.
Lean projects at Kaiser Permanente are detailed and discussed. The report is a system-level presentation showing many departmental improvements.
A pull system is implemented within a surgical suite, saving on inventory cost. Other accomplishments and lessons learned are discussed.
Turnarounds and first case starts are improved using a variety of lean techniques. Sustainability, achievement of buy-in and metric details are also discussed.
Lean improvement projects are performed within the supplies delivery function of a surgical services suite.