Operations Research for Surgical Services

PURPOSE OF COURSE is to teach participants how to apply principles of operations research to solve problems in the operating room and perioperative environment:

• Monitoring operational and financial performance of surgical suites and anesthesia groups ("descriptive analytics"),

• Forecasting case durations, time remaining in cases, use of staffed OR time ("predictive analytics"),

• Applying principles of operations research to make common decisions, such as staffing levels, block time planning, case scheduling and assignment, financial management, and strategic planning ("prescriptive analytics"),

• Identifying in-house expertise to aid in problem-solving and determining whether outside consultants are needed,

• Evaluating current decision-support systems.

See: Wachtel RE, Dexter F. Curriculum providing cognitive knowledge and problem-solving skills for anesthesia systems-based practice. ACGME Journal of Graduate Medical Education 2: 624-632, 2010

See: Wachtel RE, Dexter F. Difficulties and challenges associated with literature searches in operating room management, complete with recommendations. Anesthesia & Analgesia 117: 1460-1479, 2013

INTENDED AUDIENCE includes hospital engineers, and other analysts responsible for the organization and delivery of surgical care. The course is designed to be especially relevant to engineers and analysts from other fields preparing to work in anesthesia/ ORs.

CASE STUDIES completed in groups are an integral part of the course. All teams include both clinicians and analysts. Many of the case questions include electronic literature searching using publicly available materials. The cases help participants learn which techniques should be applied to different types of problems, how best to present results to hospital stakeholders, and leadership principles for team-based OR management decision making.