Reducing Surgery Scheduling Errors in Multihospital System

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess whether bundled team training interventions for surgeons and office staff could effectively improve the accuracy of surgery scheduling, minimizing scheduling factors that may contribute to occurrence of wrong site surgery. Methods This quasi-experimental observational study used an interrupted time series design to explore surgery scheduling errors (SSEs) and implemented bundled team training interventions intended to reduce SSEs at a Pacific Northwest Regional Surgery Scheduling Department. Each preintervention and postintervention segment consisted of 16 weekly data points. The bundled team training interventions included disclosure of preintervention scheduling errors, a scheduling verification checklist, an updated surgery scheduling policy and procedure, and toolkit to improve office scheduling of surgeries. Results Improvements in SSEs were observed preintervention to postintervention, with decreased surgery SSE rate from 0.51% to 0.13% (P
Source: Journal of Patient Safety - Category: Health Management Tags: Original Studies Source Type: research