Maximizing Efficiency: A Retrospective Study on Operating Room Utilization.

Abstract

Introduction

The efficient use of operating rooms (OR) is crucial for managing healthcare resources and controlling costs (Balch et al., 2023). Optimizing operational efficiency can effectively decrease surgical wait times and allocate resources more efficiently (Bellini et al., 2024). This study retrospectively analyzes data on the utilization of operating rooms to find areas where improvements might be made (Bevan et al., 2023).

Methods:
 A total of 2,172 surgical cases were conducted in different operating rooms during the first quarter of 2022, and de-identified data from these cases was gathered. The variables comprised the encounter ID, date, OR suite, service, CPT code, procedure description, and booked start and end timings. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the associations between date and other factors. The influence of method on date was analyzed using Bayesian ANOVA, with booked time being used as a regression weight.

Results:

Chi-square analyses revealed statistically significant relationships between date and service (p<0.001), CPT code (p=0.047), and booked time (p<0.001). The Bayesian ANOVA approach computed the effects on the date variable, along with 95% credible intervals. The posterior distributions of coefficients revealed that knee arthroscopy, bunionectomy, and carpal tunnel release procedures exhibited minimum variance, but neurectomy and ORIF treatments displayed significant variances. The error variance was predicted to be between 3.7 and 4.2 hours.

Conclusion:
Various frequently conducted elective procedures had consistent durations, indicating potential for enhancing block scheduling. Procedures that have larger variability may see advantages from more accurate estimations of duration. In summary, our findings offer valuable information on how to improve OR scheduling by implementing specific measures such as documenting first-case start times and allocating blocks of time for each specialty.