Perfecting Patient Flow in the Surgical Setting

Reduced surgical efficiency and productivity, delayed patient discharges, and prolonged use of hospital resources are the results of an OR that is unable to move patients to the postanesthesia care unit or other patient units. A primary reason for perioperative patient flow delay is the lack of hospital beds to accommodate surgical patients, which consequently causes backups of patients currently in the surgical suite. In one facility, implementing Six Sigma methodology helped to improve OR patient flow by identifying ways that frontline staff members could work more intelligently and more efficiently, and with less stress to streamline workflow and eliminate redundancy and waste in ways that did not necessitate reducing the number of employees. The results were improved employee morale, job satisfaction and safety, and an enhanced patient experience.