Reducing Pre-Op To Incision Time

Reducing pre-op to incision time was the main goal of a collaborative multidisciplinary team in a standalone heart and vascular operating room. The pre-op to incision time for the operating room was >60 minutes over the allotted preparation time for surgery. On average, 45% of the documents and orders required to pre-op a patient were missing the day of surgery. As a result, the pre-op area was chaotic and surgeries failed to start on time. This has led to days running longer than scheduled, and decreased patient, staff, and physician satisfaction. The project was divided into two phases, phase I focused on the pre-op area and phase II on OR entry to incision. The project is still in process, and despite encompassing multiple policy changes has sustained a 30 minute improvement