long, roughly the time from when a patient is
rolled into and out of the operating room.
That equates to 3 units of operating time per
hour or a maximum of 24 units for an 8-hour
surgical day. But doctors operate at different
speeds and there are a variety of procedures
at the center on any given day. Once the sur-
gery units are booked, the scheduler works
backward from the end of the day. So if the
last case takes 3 units (1 hour) and the day
ends at 3:30 p.m., that case will begin at 2:30
p.m. That means the patient must arrive at
1:30 p.m. Before the unit system was intro-
duced, the surgical day ended at 3 p.m. only
50% of the time. Today it ends at 3 p.m.
between 85 and 90% of the time.
"It really works well because you can see if
you have room to add another case or if you
are overbooked," says Mr. Bullock. "It helps us
to manage overtime and underutilized surgery
time."
Memorial Hospital Outpatient Surgery
Center in Marysville, Ohio, used to bring one
cataract patient in every hour. Not anymore.
Today the first 5 patients arrive in 15-minute
intervals. "Bringing these patients in up front
let us spend time with each patient," says
Dannielle Schroder, Memorial's clinical coor-
dinator of surgical services. "It kind of gives
us a head start to the day."
8 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6
9 Orchard, Suite 111
Lake Forest, CA 92630
www.optisurgical.com
info@optisurgical.com
Call AOI for Information
800.576.1266 or
949.580.1266
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