Physicians' perceptions of minimum time that should be saved to move a surgical case from one operating room to another: internet-based survey of the membership of the Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors (AACD).

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Moving the last case of the day from one operating room (OR) to another OR can increase OR efficiency. However, there is a penalty cost for moving a case. The goal of the study was to measure perceptions of the minimum time that needs to be saved for it to be worthwhile to move a case from a late-running OR to another OR.

DESIGN

Internet-based survey of the Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors (AACD) and/or attendees at one of its courses. As subjects completed the computer-assisted survey, answers to test questions were checked immediately to ensure respondents understood the relevant concepts.

MEASUREMENTS

Respondents were asked to complete the statement: "I would move the case if I would expect to save ____ hours of overutilized OR time."

MAIN RESULTS

234 E-mail invitations to complete the survey were transmitted. Of that number, 87 completed surveys were returned. Respondents were physicians, mostly from the United States. The 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of the penalty cost were 1.0 hour of overutilized OR time. The 95% confidence intervals were 0.5 to 1.0 hour for the 25th percentile, 1.0 to 1.0 hour for the 50th percentile, and 1.0 to 2.0 hours for the 75th percentile. There was no significant correlation between the penalty cost and the number of ORs at the respondent's facility, number of times the survey was submitted until it was completed correctly, or total number of errors in responses.

CONCLUSIONS

Members of the AACD perceive the penalty cost for moving a case to be 1 hour.