Operating Room Inefficiencies Attributable to Errors in Surgical Case Scheduling and Surgeon Procedure Heterogeneity
This study examined effects of scheduling errors on operating room efficiency and surgeon procedure heterogeneity on the rate of incorrectly scheduled cases. Operative cases in an academic center over 11 months were categorized as correctly or incorrectly scheduled. Surgeon heterogeneity was the number of unique procedures performed. Delays were greater for misbooked first cases (median 9 minutes late (interquartile range [IQR] 2 24) vs 4 (IQR 0 13) P .01) For subsequent cases, turnover time was longer if misbooked (47 minutes (IQR 33 69) vs 39 (IQR 28 55) P .01) Overall, the difference between actual and scheduled length was greater for misbooked cases (26 minutes (IQR 15 to +79) vs 6 (IQR 17 to +38) P .01) Highest heterogeneity surgeons had higher risk of incorrect scheduling compared with the lowest (odds ratio 1.97, 95% confidence interval [1.34 2.98] P .01) Scheduling errors led to delays in first starts, unexpectedly longer cases, and prolonged turnovers. Highest heterogeneity surgeons were at greatest risk for misbooking.
American journal of medical quality the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality