S
having a few minutes off your wheels-
out to wheels-in time is the easy part.
You target the inefficiencies and
streamline the process. The challenge is sus-
taining faster room turnovers. To do that, you
must do more than tweak who mops and who
wipes. You must also address your organiza-
tional culture. This means investing in human
factors such as the initial buy-in of key team
members and soliciting frequent feedback
with positive reinforcement, says David
Ninan, DO, medical director and chairman of
the anesthesia department of Riverside
University Health System in Moreno Valley,
Calif.
Riverside County Regional Medical Center
was plagued by an average turnover time of
45 minutes for elective scheduled surgeries.
As Dr. Ninan wrote in a 2017 report detailing how the OR leadership
team at the 10-OR hospital sustained and achieved an average 22.7-
minute turnover time, a change in culture was as important as a
change in turnover technique.
"Change can be challenging for an organization, partic-
ularly one that has been operating in a stable environ-
ment for a significant period. In cases where change has
2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 9
David Ninan, DO | Riverside University
Health System, Moreno Valley, Calif.
The
Role
of
Organizational
Culture
in
Turnaround
Time
• Medical director and
chairman of the anesthe-
sia department at
Riverside University
Health System, Moreno
Valley, Calif.
• Board of Governors
member and current
treasurer of the
American Osteopathic
College of
Anesthesiologists.
• Winner of the 2016
Riverside University
Health System's Bertram
H. Eckmann, MD,
Emerging Leadership
Award.
Speaker Profile
