TORG-MAG Vol 1 Issue 2, Dec. 2024, pp. 27-29.
By Miriam Chinelo Ukwuani (Perioperative Nurse, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria)
Cite this article: Ukwuani, M.C. (2024) ‘Presentation on Efficient Surgical Resource Management’, TORG-MAG, Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp. 27-29. Available at: https://torgevents.org/resource-management/
Introduction
Healthcare is changing rapidly and constant transformations in health care due to the fast pace of scientific and technological progress in medicine and population ageing, constitute a continuous challenge for health systems. This growing complexity coupled with rising costs compels health services to constantly reorganise in order to adapt their resources to meet today’s demands and maintain quality of care, clinical efficiency and sustainability. Surgery is the main source of revenue and costs in hospitals worldwide. Thus, the need for all hospitals to maximise the efficiency of their surgery resources cannot be overemphasised. Resource management is emerging as the discipline to integrate the healthcare delivery process. These resources comprise time, finance, people, facilities, equipment, information, pharmaceuticals, and fixed assets. This is geared towards replacing these ineffective organisational structures with other, more competent framework improved quality services.
Analysis Of The Key Words
- Efficient: Functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort.
- Surgical: Related to an operation performed by a surgical team .
- Resources: Refers to all the materials available in an environment which are technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally sustainable and aids in meeting the organisational goals.
- Management: is the administration of an organisation, It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Surgical Resources
The full extent of the global burden of surgical disease is largely unknown; however, surgical resources if properly managed will eradicate or grossly minimise substandard services offered to the surgical patients. The resources include: Personnel, Equipment, Materials, Space, Time and Finance.
Personnel: These refer to a body of persons employed in an organisation or place of work. Their activities are channelled towards achieving the organisational goals. They include: Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, Certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), Operating room nurse or circulating nurse (Perioperative Nurses), etc.
Equipment And Supply: Surgical equipment is a tool or device for performing specific actions or carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. They include: Anaesthetic Machine, Suction Machine, Operating Microscopes, Endoscopic equipment, etc
Space: This refers to an operating theatre, it is a facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out in an aseptic environment. Operating room management is essential to: Ensure patient safety and optimal patient outcome, Provide surgeons with appropriate access to the OR so that patients can have operations in a timely manner, Maximise the efficiency of operating room utilisation, staff, and materials, Decrease patient delays and Enhance satisfaction among patients, staff, and surgeons.
Time: Time management is the process of planning and controlling how much time to spend on specific activities. Good time management leads to improved efficiency and productivity, less stress, and more positive patient outcomes. Incorrect planning may lead to conflicts between team members thus disturbing daily work routine. Time in this context includes: Planning, Scheduling, Start time (knife on skin), Anaesthesia time, Operation duration, Turnover.
Finance: Financial management is strategic planning, organising, directing, and controlling of financial undertakings in an organisation. In the surgical setting, it means applying general management principles to financial resources.
Operational Strategies for Efficient Surgical Resource Management
Efficient operating room (OR) management is a constant balancing act between optimal OR capacity, allocation of ORs resources, assignment of staff, ordering of materials, and reliable scheduling, while according the highest priority to patient safety.
Planning: Resource management in a surgical setting can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned of management staff. The operating room must be open 7 days a week and all resources must be optimised to manage multiple complex patient needs and, above all, prevent even the tiniest occurrence. That’s why we need proactive planning in setting the right priorities and implementing the most effective practices.
Identify, Assemble, Allocate And Ration All Resources: Allocation of resources is defined as the process of selection of resources and their proper utilisation. In order to ensure all resources (from staff, time to tools and materials) are used as efficiently as possible, mode of allocation must be considered. Since the resources are scarce, one must ascertain that maximum satisfaction would be obtained by utilising the productive resources that are available in a useful manner.
Pay Special Attention To Human Resources: As technology changes, nothing can replace the impact of open communication amongst members of the surgical team. Whether you hold weekly team meetings to share vital information about any issues that arise or ask for staff to document and communicate problems within your surgery scheduling platform, it’s important that any feedback is turned into action. By simply meeting to voice concerns, issues, and ideas, your team can make changes to daily processes that will improve operating room efficiency.
Track Time And Progress: Similar to a marketing campaign or product launch, it’s hard to measure success in the operating suite without tracking or monitoring your progress. Once you’ve allocated resources, keep track of the workload and tackle any issues that might crop up. Time tracking is vital in the theatre environment as it will let you see whether a task is taking too long to complete (patients’ arrival to the theatre, surgery time, turnover, start time) or whether everything is happening as it should be.
Prevent Delayed Start Times
While the length of a surgery may be unknown, schedulers can plan by accounting for potential issues when scheduling surgical cases. Start time is of particular importance as a delayed surgery can impact cases throughout the rest of the day. To improve operating room efficiency and scheduling, the most predictable cases should be scheduled earlier, allowing more time for surgeries that may need more time.
Avoid Equipment Issues
Broken, missing, or simply unavailable equipment causes major issues for operating room efficiency, leading to delays or even cancellations. To prevent these issues, surgical team members should utilise a surgery management platform to document the necessary equipment for each surgical case as well as flag broken or missing equipment so that any issues can be handled in advance of the scheduled surgery.
Ensure That Patients Are Prepared For Surgery
Ensuring that patients are prepared for surgery is an essential step in improving operating room efficiency.
While facilities can manage everything from operating room schedules to equipment to staff, if a patient is unprepared, this may derail even the best-laid plans. Communicating with the patient ahead of time, whether it’s through a surgery scheduling platform or a simple phone call, can prevent delays and cancellations.
Implement Consistent Evaluation
Effective resource allocation isn’t the only requirement. It works with consistent, reliable evaluation of the utilisation of these resources.
Everyone involved should know what resources are being deployed for each surgery, how they’ll be used, and what the end result will be.
Benefits Of Efficient Resource Management
In simple words, Resource Management is an aspect of project management that is focused on doing more with less. The benefits of Resource Management include:
1. Optimal Utilization of Resources
2. Avoid Unforeseen Challenges & Conflicts
3. Improves Service Delivery
4. Enhanced Return on Investment (ROI)
5. Transparency
Conclusion
Surgery has changed dramatically in recent decades, to the extent that today’s demand for surgical procedures outstrips existing resources. Safety, quality and efficiency have become the priority objectives of 21st century surgical care and resources are essential to reach this goal. The goal of resource management is to use the best combination of resources to satisfy these requirements while also realising these same resources are likely to be limited or scarce. A plan of action aligned with the demand for profitable ORs is urgently needed. For optimal OR productivity, a surgical suite needs to define its main stakeholders, identify and create strategies to meet their needs, and ensure staff and patient satisfaction. This can only be achieved through efficient surgical resource management.
References
- Brown, D. P., & Smith, A. R. (2021). Optimizing operating room efficiency: Strategies for success. Journal of Surgical Management, 15(2), 112-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/jsm.2021.02.003
- Gupta, R., & Patel, S. (2020). Effective resource allocation in healthcare: A surgical perspective. Healthcare Economics Review, 22(3), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/hcer.2020.07.009
- Harris, K. A., & Green, L. P. (2022). Time management in the operating room: Best practices for efficiency. Journal of Perioperative Nursing, 30(4), 210-225. https://doi.org/10.1177/jpn.220124
- Jones, M., & Baker, T. H. (2019). Personnel management in surgical services: Enhancing team coordination. Surgical Team Dynamics Review, 11(1), 75-88. https://doi.org/10.1037/std.2019.001
- Lewis, J. P. (2023). Maximizing the utilization of surgical equipment: A guide to effective management. Healthcare Operations Management Quarterly, 16(2), 135-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/homq.2023.03.004
- Miller, R. S., & Thompson, D. J. (2021). Space management in the operating room: Best practices and challenges. Journal of Hospital Resource Management, 19(2), 89-104. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhrm.2021.05.023
- Patel, V., & Nguyen, C. (2020). Human resources in healthcare: Addressing the need for skilled surgical teams. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 10(3), 132-148. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S123456
- Roberts, L. J., & Walker, S. P. (2022). Financial management in surgical services: Balancing cost and quality. Journal of Financial Healthcare Systems, 7(3), 155-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/jfhs.2022.07.002
TORG Magazine (TORG-MAG)
TORG-MAG Vol 1 Issue 2, Dec. 2024
(Innovating for Tomorrow: The Future of Global Surgical Excellence)
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