Performance partners’ operational analysis saves hospital $200,000   

Situation:

Premier Performance Partners performed opportunity assessments of the Post Anesthesia Care Unit and Outpatient Surgery Department. Administration wanted to improve productivity in the areas that were never good.

Solution:

The process included:

• Extensive observations over a couple of months
• Interviews with area staff and physicians
• Site visits to three hospitals with comparable departments
• Examination of payroll and Trendstar data and the personnel budget
• OperationsAdvisorTM productivity data
• Internet research
• Tools from the Premier Performance Improvement PortalTM
• Premier Ambulatory Surgery and PACU PRISM (Premier's Resource and Improvement Strategies Methodology) methodology

The performance engineer’s major recommendations included:

• Combining the OPS and PACU units
• Merging the former units’ shift supervisor positions into an assistant nurse manager position
• Cross-training staff to work in both areas of the combined department so they could float as volume dictates
• Changing the scheduling in the pre-op area from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes

Result:

• Projected savings are nearly $200,000
• Staffing reductions of almost two budgeted FTEs
• Overall staffing reductions of more than 4.5 overall paid FTEs.

"The changes have been tremendous. They have been as simple as different scheduling for patients to come in for pre-op to cross-training of recovery nurses to get patients ready for surgery in the time before patients begin showing up in the PACU after surgery."

Cindy Proctor
Director of Quality Management
Cleveland Regional Medical Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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