3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 6
Staffing costs stand at the top of your facility's budget, and front and center in your mind. A surgi-
cal facility won't run without nurses and techs, but there are always ways to schedule them more
efficiently and economically. Here are a few ideas from our readers.
— Compiled by David Bernard
• Staffing savings. With a little planning, your facility can
save money on staffing costs at the start of each day.
Schedule the longest case of the day first, then arrange for
the recovery nurse to start work about 15 minutes before
the second patient is due to arrive. That way she's not
standing idle for an hour or more while the first patient is
in pre-op and the OR. (It also allows the first patient as
much recovery time as is needed.) If your recovery nurse is
also the pre-op nurse, you can also avoid down time by assign-
ing the OR nurse to prepare the first patient for surgery.
• Staggering strategy. If you've got a handful
of cases scheduled intermittently throughout the
day, it's likely you'll see your staff sitting in the
lounge between assignments because they've
got nothing to do. You can keep these wasted
nursing hours off your balance sheet by stagger-
ing your staff's arrival times. Divide them into
teams, each one scheduled to start shortly
before each case. That way each employee gets
her 8 hours and you have complete coverage for
the schedule, without overtime.
Simple Staffing Solutions
Innovative
Ideas
Ideas Work
That
