Start Every First Case of the Day On Time
A punctual start to the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day.
N
othing gets your day off on the wrong foot like failing to start
the first case on time. Even a delay of 15 minutes can throw
your schedule off track, frustrating patients as well as the
entire OR team. If you're struggling to start the surgical day on sched-
ule, follow these 3 steps to improve your rate of on-time first-case
starts.
Define "on-time start"
There are many different ways to measure an on-time start:
wheels-in time, induction time or cut time. Your staff and surgeons
must work off a standardized definition of on-time starts so you can
identify the issues that are causing delays and zero in on solutions. We
define an on-time start as wheeling the patients into the OR on or
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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 • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
Staffing
Richard Fleeger, MSN, RN, CSSM, and Kimberly Valentine, MSN, RN
• RIGHT ON TIME Every facet of your facility benefits when the day's first cases start on time.