Time Is Money: Can Punctuality Decrease Operating Room Cost?

What does one minute of operating room time cost?

“How much does one minute of OR time cost?” is a question often asked in the operating room (OR) suite. We hear this question during cases that seem to be taking longer than they should, or when a missing piece of equipment delays the next step of the surgery. This question also arises if there is a last-minute cancellation that leaves the OR unexpectedly idle until another case can be assigned...

Time is Money: Designing Cost-Effective Time Series Experiments.

A new theoretical model helps to evaluate the tradeoffs between running technical replicates in high-throughput experiments and sampling at more time points.

Cost Accounting in the Operating Room

One of the problems in dealing with the above scenario is the lack of timely, accurate cost data upon which to base any decisions. Cost information is inadequate in many hospital departments, but the place where the lack of accurate cost data is most evident is often the Operating Room. The Surgery department is the leader in medical supply usage for the entire hospital. Decisions are made here...

When to release allocated operating room time to increase operating room efficiency.

UNLABELLED We studied when allocated, but unfilled, operating room (OR) time of surgical services should be released to maximize OR efficiency. OR time was allocated for two surgical suites based on OR efficiency. Then, we analyzed real OR schedules. We added new hypothetical cases lasting 1, 2, or 3 h into OR time of the service that had the largest difference between allocated and scheduled c...

Operating room pollution--or is it contamination?