John D. Kelly IV, MD
CUTTING REMARKS
1 1 2
O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
It's a Mad Dash When I Overbook
I'll do anything to avoid the 5 o'clock witching hour.
S
ometimes, for a variety of reasons, I book more cases than I
should. When I look at the next day's schedule and see that it
has more entries than the Yellow Pages, I
hearken the words of TV's Doctor Phil: "What in
the world was I thinking?"
Instead of choosing the lame route and asking
patients to reschedule, I take the high road and
begin to strategize for the next day. My goal: to
avoid the dreaded 5 o'clock witching hour. I have been
warned on several occasions that if my cases extend
beyond 5 p.m., all subsequent cases will be sent to a
nebulous zone known as the big hospital, with starting
times ranging from 5:30 p.m. to next week. Here are 4
things I do when I overbook.
Ask for an early start.
The first step when I
overbook is to ask for an early start. This
tactic rarely works. Usually I am met with refusals citing the
increased costs of bringing staff in early. On the rare occasion that I
do get an early start, my incision time is generally close to my stan-
dard time anyway. Smell passive-aggressive behavior, anyone? Sadly,
sometimes I sheepishly tell the resident that I will knock off the first
couple of cases in order to meet the time deadline. In a matter of mil-
liseconds, I have just downgraded my chief resident from nearly fully
trained surgeon to innocent bystander. Yes, I do feel like a loser at
these times, but I ease the resident's pain with promises of many good
cases in the future and many a happy hour after work.
1
STRETCHED THIN Dr. Kelly will do
whatever it takes when he over-
books his surgical schedule.
