Strengthening the Surgical Journey Through Collaboration and Innovation

Perioperative Services leadership, in collaboration with many of our colleagues, has successfully undertaken a comprehensive initiative to enhance the surgical journey for our patients. This includes approximately 13,000 surgical patients annually, 20% of whom require urgent or emergent care. The core strategy has centered on strengthening partnerships and optimizing operational efficiencies across departments. This has been accomplished through strong governance, multidisciplinary collaboration, and focused support from our medical directors and staff. 

Clinical Governance and Performance:

• Established strong governance and medical direction to define and track key performance indicators (KPIs), driving accountability and continuous improvement.
• Successfully exceeded the goal for on-time starts, achieving 70% compliance and emphasizing the critical importance of timely initiation of care.

Process and Resource Optimization:

• Reduced PACU boarding minutes from 2,300 minutes to under 1,500 minutes per month since June 2025, a significant achievement, facilitating the safe and timely placement of recovering patients.
• Implemented a bed planning sheet shared across PACU, 7 South, and 5 South to improve coordination and patient flow, ensuring efficient bed utilization.
• Standardized the pre-operative intake process and expanded the ADT (Admission, Discharge, and Transfer) nurse coverage to streamline administrative steps.

Patient Flow and Preparation:

• The STAR Clinic (focused on pre-operative testing and preparation) has reduced the time patients spend on the day of surgery by an average of 20 minutes per patient.
• Improved turnaround times (dwell times) in the Phase 2 recovery space, now averaging <60 minutes in Surgery.
• Enhanced response for emergent to OR cases, with the goal of being ready within 60 minutes of presentation.
• Over the past year, the OR has added a dedicated add-on room for urgent/emergent cases to facilitate timely care.

Technology and Best Practices:

• The Robotic Committee (a multidisciplinary group) has successfully established consistent standards and optimized access to our 2 Xi Robots.
• Implemented a Pre-Op Checklist to ensure a timely and complete hand-off between OR and Inpatient (IP) nursing staff.
• Deployed E-Consent to eliminate paper-based processes, further increasing efficiencies.

On behalf of our leadership team, we extend our gratitude to the many contributing partners, physicians, and dedicated staff whose commitment has made these vital improvements possible. We remain committed to optimizing the entire surgical journey for both patients and physicians.