Sarasota Memorial Health Care System Case Study

Success in Action

One of the largest public health systems in Florida, Sarasota Memorial Health is a Level II Trauma Center with 829 beds and 900 physicians; more than 24,300 surgeries are performed each year by the 430 surgical staff members.

Perioperative, diagnostic and outpatient clinic services are the economic engine of a hospital. However, the costs of running operating rooms and procedural care areas is also very high. Given the impact that these departments can have on profitability, it is vitally important to optimize their efficiency. This fact was no different for SMH when they were faced with the decision to invest in a capital initiative to build more OR suites, or find a way to improve the efficiency of the existing 34 suites. It was determined that while delays were common, operating room utilization was 48% (benchmark 90%) with an average turnover time of 33 minutes (benchmark 23 minutes).

TO IMPROVE, THE FOLLOWING NEEDED TO BE ADDRESSED:

• Redesign of OR processes
• Availability of equipment and instrumentation for surgeons to start on time
• Improved communication between pre-op and OR suites to know the real-time status of patients
• Optimized use of patient transporters
• Elimination of manual processes and staff education of new, automated processes

Download the case study now to learn how outcomes were achieved.