Metrics In the Operating Room and Why They Matter | Part II
Most of these metrics do not matter to the majority of frontline team, but I’ll share anyways. It’s interesting to know what happens behind the scenes sometimes. During my time as a leader, I shared the metrics at every staff meeting. Each month kept getting busier, and the team felt that. I would also share how I would use this data to request things that were needed for the team, whether that be more instrumentation, more equipment, different shifts, more team members, etc. There are many other metrics that are recorded but aren’t really talked about because they are ones that cannot be impacted easily.
Metric #4 | Volume
Volume typically correlates with the number of procedures in a certain time period. For the frontline team, this doesn’t mean much other than the number of cases you’re assigned to each day. Do you have a light day with 3 small cases, a heavy day with 6-7 small cases, or a heavy day with 1 big case? This is typically reported to senior leadership and the finance team. It is usually compared to the previous month or the previous year, but I feel there are a lot of factors that play into this number that make it unreliable.
Metric #5 | Operative Minutes
This number means a little bit more I believe. This number doesn’t mean cut time to close time, this means wheels in to wheels out. This is a direct reflection of how many minutes the patient is billed for (dependent on your facilities approach). If you have 8 hours of ‘normal operating time’, that translates to 480 minutes per room each day. If you only had 230 minutes of operative time, that’s 250 minutes of unproductive time when the room was without a patient. Unfortunately, turnover time falls under unproductive time— which I highly disagree with. That time is so important and necessary to prevent mistakes. The operative minutes number is a lot more reflective of your department’s busyness.
Metric #6 | Volume versus Minutes
This metric isn’t one that is typically required to track and report, however during my leadership journey I found this comparison was insanely helpful in showing the growth the department was experiencing. This comparison really just shows if you had a higher number of shorter cases or a lower number of longer cases. Think 8 cystoscopy cases versus 1 CABG. The facility where I was kept saying “more cases, more cases” but while working on the “more cases” part, the bigger cases came, which meant more minutes and less volume.
Metric #7 | Outpatient Procedures vs. Inpatient Procedures
This is a comparison of how many procedures are scheduled as outpatient- typically less acuity type procedures. The inpatient procedures are patients who were admitted for whatever reason and end up needing a procedure done. Reimbursement for inpatient procedures is impacted by many factors.
Metric #8 | Block Time Utilization
Most facilities use block time scheduling to determine what and when surgeons have access to the OR. There should be a policy on how block time is given, but also how it is removed. You want to be able to give surgeons the opportunity to create a regular schedule for their operating hours, but they also have to prove that they will use it. Being able to refer to the policy on block utilization is very helpful when working with surgeons (or their office managers) on changes that may be necessary for the success of the department. Block time is an extremely touchy subject with most surgeons.
Do you know of any metrics that your facility tracks? Most metrics will be used together to paint a true picture of what happens in the OR. Take a look at the first post on metrics here! Feel free to reach out with any questions over what any of these or other metrics might mean and why they are important.
