Ideas That Work: Quick Response

Share:

Don't Delay Investigating Case Delays


clocking start times CLOCK MANAGEMENT Start asking questions immediately when surgery doesn’t start on time.

QUICK RESPONSE
Don’t Delay Investigating Case Delays

If you ask a surgeon why a case was delayed on August 4th sometime in September when you’re reviewing the previous month’s data, the surgeon will be hard-pressed to remember where he operated that day, let alone why his case started late. Instead, send an e-mail to the surgeon the morning the delay happened. It shouldn’t be punitive. Treat it as a fact-finding mission while the reasons are fresh in the surgeon’s mind: We saw your case didn’t start on time today. Can you give us a comment on why you think that happened? You might not get a definitive answer immediately, but you’ll get a more accurate place to start in your attempts to find out.

Robert Foglia, MD
University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, Texas
[email protected]

Related Articles

Wired for Success

In her 24 years as a nurse at Penn Medicine, Connie Croce has seen the evolution from open to laparoscopic to robotic surgery....

To Optimize OR Design, Put People First

Through my decades of researching, testing and helping implement healthcare design solutions, I’ve learned an important lesson: A human-centered and evidence-based...