Document Type
A3
Publication Date
7-12-2019
Institution/Department
Surgery, Nursing, Maine Medical Center
MeSH Headings
patients, expenditures, urban health, accountability, goal, surgeons, root cause analysis, instituted, interdisciplinary
Abstract
In an ambulatory surgical center, first case on-time starts directly affects the patient experience. In addition, in order to treat as many patients as possible, delays of first case on-time starts negatively impacts the rest of scheduled surgical patients and increases staff overtime expenditures. An ambulatory surgical team within a large urban health care system initiated a performance improvement initiative to enhance the patient experience, increase staff accountability and care team well-being.
The goal of this project was to start 70% or more first cases on time. Baseline metrics demonstrated that patients and surgeons were the largest cause of delay. Root cause analysis looked at a number of other variables affecting first case on-time starts and several interdisciplinary countermeasures were instituted.
Subsequent outcomes showed a dramatic improvement from 50.2% in October of 2018 to meeting the goal of 70% in May of 2019. Next steps include generating a plan to sustain success as well as ongoing assessment of delayed start times for the surgeons who do arrive on time
Recommended Citation
Fecteau, Diane; Reid, Shannan; Green, Sydney; Hanselman, Ruth; Nayak, Suneela; Tyzik, Stephen; and Sparks, Amy, "Increasing First Case On Time Starts in an Ambulatory Surgery Center" (2019). Operational Transformation. 24.
https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/opex/24
