2 5
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | 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
STAFFING
ership and input in the process. Having a champion within each department
helps bring those people resistant to change along. Today, all departments
are onboard and ready to go by 6:50 a.m.
Before
We didn't know where we stood with on-time starts and had no data to
implement the changes we wanted to make.
Now
A nurse collects daily on-time start data, organizes it and presents it to lead-
ership as objective facts (see "Meet the Bulldog"). Once the facts are
known, no one can deny their ORs aren't starting on time. When dealing
with challenging surgeons or anesthesiologists, we simply present the cold
hard facts, which speak for themselves. We post each service line's on-time
starts on a daily basis. That near real-time feedback makes managing start
times easier; you can't talk about data from a month ago and expect to
make real change happen. It also sparks some friendly competition among
the surgical teams and surgeons, who don't want to be the ones bringing
their service line's stats down.
Practice what you preach
We couldn't speak to our tardy surgeons unless our house was in order
first. We made sure there were no setbacks in pre-op and in the OR
before we said, We're ready, now it's your turn. If you want to maintain
the momentum of change, one failure is one too many. If you're trying to
improve the culture, it has to be done right every time. OSM
Ms. Sterchi (
ashley.sterchi@carolinashealthcare.org
) is an OR nurse manager,
Ms. Hamby (
victoria.hamby@carolinas healthcare.org
) is an assistant OR
nurse manager and Ms. Smith (
shelley.smith@carolinashealthcare.org
) is a
pre-op nurse at Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte.
