2024 Operating Room Management Summit

8:00am – 8:15am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks 

8:15am – 9:00am
What You Need to Know About OR Management
OR’s account for roughly 60 percent of a hospital’s revenue, but they are also the largest cost category. As a result, OR management can make or break a hospital’s financial stability. Despite this, many OR managers and staff lack the technology needed to optimize OR utilization, including exam room scheduling tools and physician scheduling software. To improve OR efficiency, hospitals and health systems must implement the right scheduling and OR management system. This will also allow operational and clinical leaders to set benchmarks and track progress. This session will explore how by investing in a comprehensive scheduling technology, hospitals and health systems can maximize OR efficiencies, increase patient access, improve throughput and increase revenue.

Matt Ruby, MHA
Director, Surgical Services
NM Lake Forest Hospital
NM Grayslake Surgical Center
Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital

9:00am – 9:45am
Internal Float Pool: A Recruitment and Retention Strategy to Reduce Temporary Labor Expense
Healthcare across the nation has faced an unprecedented staffing crisis.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), on average, around 195,400 openings for registered nurses are projected from 2021-2031.  The staffing situation at a multi-site health network in Northeastern Pennsylvania, was challenged by the pandemic and was forced to think creatively to support our patients and community. The Perioperative Leadership Team created a perioperative float pool to support our surgical sites across the network. Learn how the team leveraged their own team members and others fellow perioperative colleagues outside the organization to fill vacancies, increase morale, and decrease expenses.

Hope L. Johnson, DNP, MBA, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC
Vice President of Perioperative Services
Lehigh Valley Health Network 

9:45am – 10:15am
Networking & Refreshments Break 

10:15am – 11:00am
Patient Safety in the OR
Safety refers to flawless execution of an appropriate plan. When the intended plan (best practice) is not executed because of errors or violations, adverse events may occur. Human errors and/or communication failures cause or contribute to most adverse events in healthcare settings. This session will explore patient safety in the operating room, including general and specific approaches to reduce risks for various hazards. Control of infectious disease transmission by aerosol, contact, droplet exposure, or needle stick injury in this setting will also be discussed.

Jessica N. Charles, DNP, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Nurse Administrator, Surgical Services
Instructor of Nursing, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
Mayo Clinic 

11:00am – 11:45am
Improving Patient Satisfaction in the OR
The number of surgeries in the U.S. on an annual basis is staggering. For the hospital provider, the sheer volume provides incredible opportunities for healthcare professionals to study and improve upon patterns and policies concerning patient satisfaction in the OR. Delivering patient-centered care in the OR, for example, is an intrinsic element of a quality healthcare system and important for hospital profitability. And one that can help a patient reduce his or her stress stemming from the potential risk of surgery. Many surgeries carry inherently high risk of negative outcomes, and it is reasonable to believe that the accompanying stress level and apprehension the patient and his or her family experience are proportional. This session will explore ways to improve patient satisfaction in the OR.

Vangie Dennis, MSN, RN, CNOR, CMLSO
Assistant Vice President Perioperative Services
AnMed 

11:45am – 12:30pm
Overcoming Challenges Related to Perioperative Staffing and Retention
Both new-to-practice and experienced staff members are vital to support the future of the perioperative profession and patient safety, but staffing and retention have become challenging. Problems related to staffing and retention could result in progressively difficult times for perioperative patients and the perioperative profession. Addressing these challenges is becoming increasingly important, and health care leaders should be committed to enhancing their knowledge regarding why nurses and other staff members are leaving and implementing strategies to retain them. This session will explore challenges related to staffing and retention, steps to overcome these challenges, and tips for leaders experiencing the same challenges. Also learn approaches that can be considered to improve retention.

Sarah Germanovich, MSN, RN, CNOR, TCRN
Clinical Practice Leader
Perioperative Services
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 

Monica Young, RN, DNP, MBA, CNOR, NEA-BC, FACHE
Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Perioperative Services
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 

12:30pm – 1:30pm
Lunch Break 

1:30pm – 2:15pm
Using Lean Daily Management and GEMBA Walks for Perioperative Optimization
Continuity of the supply chain is an integral element in the safe and timely delivery of healthcare services. Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a continuous improvement approach, aims to drive efficiencies and standardization in processes, and while well established in the manufacturing and supply chain industries, also has relevance in healthcare supply chain management. This session will explore the application of LSS tools and techniques within the supply chain of an OR setting.

Jessica Gruendler, DNP, RN-BC, CPHQ
Senior Director of Nursing Operations and Perioperatve Services
Dignity Health 

2:15pm – 3:15pm
Panel: Ways to Improve OR Utilization
No matter how they calculate it, there’s room for perioperative departments to improve operating room utilization if it’s less than 80 percent. Surgical leaders might be happy with their utilization as a metric, but there are always more problems to solve. These may include new surgeons not being able to get block time, surgical block owners resisting changes, nurses and anesthesiologists needing more predictable schedules, and management wanting more efficiency. Especially at a time when healthcare organizations struggle to attract and retain staff, addressing these issues is critical. Even if operating room utilization numbers look strong, therefore, there are always ways to make them stronger. This session will explore simple things to implement right now that will improve operating efficiency continuously.

Panelists:

Vangie Dennis, MSN, RN, CNOR, CMLSO
Assistant Vice President Perioperative Services
AnMed 

Jessica Gruendler, DNP, RN-BC, CPHQ
Senior Director of Nursing Operations and Perioperatve Services
Dignity Health

Matt Ruby, MHA
Director, Surgical Services
NM Lake Forest Hospital
NM Grayslake Surgical Center 

3:15pm – 3:45pm
Networking & Refreshments Break 

3:45pm – 4:30pm
Maximizing Efficiency, Turnaround Time and Scheduling in the Operating Room
Operating rooms in the U.S. generally account for over 60 percent of the hospital’s total revenue. Misjudging the amount of revenue ORs account for is a common mistake among many hospital executives. The revenue is overlooked due to the focus on the cost created by the surgery department, causing most hospital executives to cut surgery department costs. Cutting the costs minimizes resources and supplies available within the department, contributing to the department’s already existing inefficiencies and complexities. This session will explore how improving these inefficiencies will allow the hospital to work towards achieving improved patient satisfaction, improved worker satisfaction, maximize revenue, and minimize cost.

Vikram Tiwari, PhD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics
Associate Professor of Management, Owen Graduate School of Management
Vanderbilt University
Senior Director, Surgical Analytics
Vanderbilt University Medical Center 

4:30pm – 5:15pm
Supply and Demand: A System Nurse Residency Program for Perioperative and Procedural Areas

David Reinhart, DNP, MBA, RN, CNOR
Director of Education, EHC, Perioperative Services Enterprise
Emory Healthcare 

5:15pm
End of Day One

8:00am – 8:15am
Chairperson’s Recap 

8:15am – 9:00am

John Olmstead
Senior Director, Surgical and Procedural Services
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago 

9:00am – 9:45am
Operating Room Time Management Strategies
Many hospitals still face subpar room and block scheduling averages, despite turning over the great majority of their OR schedules to allocated blocks. This is because it’s inherently complex to manage the block schedule in what can be a power struggle between organizational and operational priorities. Without consistent OR management, the block schedule calcifies over time, creating a cycle of underutilization that lowers revenues, increases operating costs, decreases margins, risks case leakage, and creates dissatisfaction among stakeholders. This session will explore strategies to improve OR management and OR scheduling procedures.

Tammy Hutton, MSN, RN, CNOR
Director of Surgical Services
Tampa General Hospital Crystal River 

9:45am – 10:15am
Networking & Refreshments Break 

10:15am – 11:00am
Strategies to Improve OR Turnover
This session will explore strategies for improving OR turnover including efficient time, environmental risks and the impact of cross-contamination. The presentation will include a review of current data related to OR turnover practices and discuss recommendations for the use of disposable patient-care equipment for preventing transmission of infectious agents during room turnover.

Laura Gayton
Director Outpatient Surgery
St. Louis University Hospital 

11:00am – 11:45am
Normalization of Deviance: A Threat to Safety Culture
Normalization of deviance is a phenomenon in which individuals and teams deviate from an acceptable performance standard until the adopted way of practice becomes the new norm. Normalization of deviance is particularly concerning in the OR because it is a complex, information-intensive, multi-faceted, fast-paced environment that can be hazardous for patients.  Deviating from standards of care can increase surgical patients’ risk for adverse events and erode a culture of safety. Despite efforts to mitigate risk in the OR, iatrogenic adverse events remain a threat to surgical patients. The purpose of this presentation is to describe how normalization of deviance exists and common reasons for its occurrence, and to outline ways to mitigate its threat to a culture of safety in the OR.

Imelda Wright, PhD, RN, CNOR
Assistant Professor
University of Louisville School of Nursing

11:45am – 12:30pm

Frank Sciolino
Director of Surgical Services
Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown 

12:30pm
Conference Concludes

Workshop: Streamlining Surgical Processes

Efficient operating room scheduling is vital for several reasons. First, it maximizes available resources, such as operating rooms, staff and equipment, which can lead to cost savings. It also minimizes patient wait times and reduces the risk of cancellations or delays, improving overall patient satisfaction. Lastly, effective scheduling can optimize a healthcare facility’s revenue by ensuring a steady stream of surgeries.

However, operating room scheduling is not without its challenges. One of the primary difficulties is balancing the demand for surgical procedures with the available resources. Delays and cancellations can occur due to unforeseen emergencies, surgeon availability, or equipment issues. The complexity of scheduling is amplified by the need to accommodate various surgical specialties and the high-stress nature of surgeries, which require meticulous planning. This session will help healthcare administrators and practitioners understand the core concepts of operating room scheduling and optimization to enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery.