Decreasing Operating Room Delays for Surgical Orthopedic Patients

The operating room (OR) at the project site was experiencing surgical delays for orthopedic surgical patients due to unavailable instruments, which led to a decrease in the efficiency of OR utilization. The purpose of this project was to decrease operating room delays for the orthopedic surgical patients. The practice-focused question explored whether a multidisciplinary approach to the procurement of instruments and supplies for the orthopedic surgical patient would help to ensure an on-time surgery start, resulting in increased efficiency in the utilization of the OR from 42% to 65% within a 9-month period. Lewin\u27s change model was used to guide the project. Data analysis was conducted using a t test to compare the changes in the mean scores of the OR utilization rate before and after the involvement of a multidisciplinary team. An independent samples t test found no significant effect of the intervention, t (13) = 0.74, p \u3e .05. Because the t test results were not significant at the α = .05 level, results showed no evidence that the multidisciplinary team affected the OR utilization rate. Decreasing surgical delays can have the potential implication for positive social change at the organization level, because delays hinder optimal patient flow, increase anxiety for patient and families, and have a significant negative economic impact on hospitals