Reallocation of Operating Room Capacity Using the Due-time Model

Background: Demand for surgical treatment is rising while operating room (OR) resources are limited. Requests for more resources therefore can only be partly met by repartitioning the existing sparse resources. Objective: Our goal is to define a method to allocate OR block times among surgical disci...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical care 2012-09, Vol.50 (9), p.779-784
Main Authors: Vansteenkiste, Nancy, Lamote, Christian, Vandersmissen, Jo, Luysmans, Pierre, Monnens, Philip, De Voldere, Guido, Kips, Johan, Rademakers, Frank E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Efficiency, Organizational
Elective surgical procedures
Gynecology
Health Care Rationing - methods
Health care waiting times
Health Services Needs and Demand
Hospital planning
Hospitals
Humans
Models, Statistical
Oncology
Operating rooms
Operating Rooms - statistics & numerical data
Patient care
Patients
Retrospective Studies
Scheduling
Surgeons
Surgery
Surgical procedures
Surgical specialties
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Demand for surgical treatment is rising while operating room (OR) resources are limited. Requests for more resources therefore can only be partly met by repartitioning the existing sparse resources. Objective: Our goal is to define a method to allocate OR block times among surgical disciplines in such a way that patients can be treated within an acceptable time after the need for surgery is established. In this paper, we introduce and explore the potential of the concept of the individual patient deviation from the optimal due time (DT) as a potential driver for OR (re-) allocation. Study Design and Setting: Using retrospective data for abdominal and gynecologic surgery, we analyzed DT deviation and 3 additional modifiers. From this analysis, a reallocation of OR time to the different (sub-) specialties was calculated using a simple model. Results: The results show the capability of measuring and visualizing relative overcapacity versus undercapacity of OR resources with respect to this patient-centered metric of DT. The reallocation results from the model show a potentially significant shift between programs. Conclusions: We propose the "due-time" concept as a valid measure to quantify OR resource use. The use of a DT-based model provides a transparent, acceptable system for regular reallocation of OR times between and within specialties.
ISSN:0025-7079
1537-1948
DOI:10.1097/MLR.0b013e3182549eb9