Strategies to reduce delays in admission into a postanesthesia care unit from operating rooms

Franklin Dexter; Richard H Epstein; Eric Marcon; Renato de Matta

doi:10.1016/j.jopan.2005.01.001

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Strategies to reduce delays in admission into a postanesthesia care unit from operating rooms

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Strategies to reduce delays in admission into a postanesthesia care unit from operating rooms

Franklin Dexter, Richard H Epstein, Eric Marcon and Renato de Matta

Journal of perianesthesia nursing : official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, Vol.20(2), pp.92-102

04/2005

DOI: 10.1016/j.jopan.2005.01.001

PMID: 15806526

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Abstract

The authors performed a systematic review of strategies to reduce delays in admission into PACUs from ORs. The purpose of this article was to evaluate for managers how to choose interventions based on effectiveness and practicality. The authors discuss optimization methods that can be used to sequence consecutive cases in the same OR, by the same surgeon, on the same day, based on the objective of reducing delays in PACU admission due to the unavailability of unfilled PACU beds. Although effective, such methods can be impractical because of large organizational change required and limited equipment or personnel availability. When all physical beds are not full, PACU nurse staffing can be adjusted. Statistical methods can be used to ensure that nursing schedules closely match the times that minimize delays in PACU admission. These methods are effective and practical. Explicit criteria can be applied to assist in deciding when to assign other qualified nurses to the PACU, when to ask PACU nurses to work late, and/or when to make a decision on the day before surgery to add more PACU nurses for the next day (if available). The latter would be based on statistical forecasts of the timing of patients' admissions into the PACU. Whether or not all physical beds are full, the risk of delays in PACU admission is relatively insensitive to economically feasible reductions in PACU length of stay. Such interventions should be considered only if statistical analysis, performed by using computer simulation, has established that reducing PACU length of stay will reduce delays in admission at a manager's facility.

Operating Rooms - organization & administration

Recovery Room - organization & administration

Humans

Nursing Staff, Hospital - organization & administration

Personnel Staffing and Scheduling - organization & administration

Perioperative Care - organization & administration

Postanesthesia Nursing - organization & administration

Workload

Total Quality Management - organization & administration

Algorithms

Hospital Bed Capacity - statistics & numerical data

Time Factors

Organizational Objectives

Interdepartmental Relations

Perioperative Care - nursing

Appointments and Schedules

Nursing Administration Research

Needs Assessment - organization & administration

Patient Admission - standards

Efficiency, Organizational

Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data

Details

Title: Subtitle: Strategies to reduce delays in admission into a postanesthesia care unit from operating rooms
Creators: Franklin Dexter - Division of Management Consulting, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA. franklin-dexter@uiowa.edu
Richard H Epstein
Eric Marcon
Renato de Matta
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of perianesthesia nursing : official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, Vol.20(2), pp.92-102
Publisher: United States
DOI: 10.1016/j.jopan.2005.01.001
PMID: 15806526
ISSN: 1089-9472
eISSN: 1532-8473
Language: English
Date published: 04/2005
Academic Unit: Health Management and Policy; Anesthesia; Business Analytics
Record Identifier: 9983806397702771

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