A multidisciplinary process to improve the efficiency of cardiac operatingrooms

Objective: To alter the approach to cardiac operating room services in an a ttempt to remain competitive in a cost-driven market. Design: Study of processes and strategies for tracking and decreasing the t imes required for the multiple components of the operating room period. Setting:Cardiac operating rooms in a tertiary care, university-affiliate ho spital. Participants:All patients undergoing primary coronary artery bypass graftin g during December 1996 (baseline) and the following year (1997). Interventions:After participation in cost-containment meetings, site visits , and development of a working group, data collection was begun detailing t he times of the various components of the operating room period. Changes of process were made to reduce operating room times. Most of these changes in volved multitasking care: multiple people performing various tasks at the s ame time. All measured operating room intervals were decreased. There was n o difference in morbidity and mortality over this time period. Conclusion: Development of a working group, with support from the hospital administration, can significantly decrease the time of tasks in a cardiac s urgery operating room without adversely affecting morbidity and mortality. Copyright (C) 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company.