Is anyone else being pushed for 30 minute turnover times in between cases?

[jamieplusfour]

My hospital in San Diego, CA is pushing for NO more than 30 minutes in between cases. The time begins when you leave the OR with your patient and you must be back in the OR with your next patient within 30 minutes. So you have to take the patient to recovery, set up your room for the next case, preop the next patient all within 30 minutes. I don't understand this push for time since mistakes happen when you are rushed.

Are other hospitals doing this 30 minute turnover push and if so why?

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

We had a 19 minute turnover yesterday. It wasn't fast enough...

[ArtieRN]

Our main OR where I work has a hard time keeping it under 40-45 minutes, but our ASC is usually pretty good at keeping it at 20 or so. I'm still amazed when management and doctors still complain that that's not fast enough! Obviously, the ones doing the griping are the ones who don't have to do the cleaning and setting up or dealing with brand-new set up/anesthesia techs fresh out of college with liberal arts degrees and minimal training from the company we contract!

[kat von b]

We have a 30 minute turnover where I work too. Some days it works and other days it doesn't. I always feel rushed, bring back our unused supplies, grab stuff for the next case, go see the patient, and open the room. With these ortho cases that's a lot to get done in a short amount of time. Heaven forbid I have to pee. If we miss our 30 minute mark we get a call from charge asking why, well it's either bc it took so damn long to clean or the anesthesia resident and/or attending is chatting away, or we are missing something (happens more than it should). We have all voiced our concerns but I doubt it will ever change. I work at a huge level one teaching facility.

[Lorodz]

Aussie RN here, I work in a religious hospital and thus gets tax breaks as it is not a for profit organization. However the managers push us for a quick changeover.

we average 5-10 minutes change over time for joints.

[peabozzle]

wow, 30 minutes would be a luxury! I work in a physician owned 8 OR hospital. Our goal is a 10 minute turnover. We average 12 minutes. However, we often "flip" rooms with 1 surgeon....while the RNFA is closing one case, the next patient is being put to sleep, prepped, draped next door. The surgeon literally has time to talk to the family, scrub & get going on the next one. That provides what we call "negative turn over". One patient is out of the room AFTER the next case got into the room. The key to this actually working is a well built team. From the surgeons office to the housekeepers....we all watch out for each other & do what we can to help. We are fortunate that we usually have a couple extra bodies floating around to interview patient, open cases, help prep, etc.

[ceman]

let me say this u r lucky having a 30 minutes .

in the hospital i used to work its been only 15 minutes , i know its too hard but i guess team work may solve this thing ...

Example :

while the circulating nurse is transferring the pt to RR & giving endorsement , the third nurse or the assistant could set up the room , the scrub nurse set up all instruments & supplies that well used in the surgical procedure & the nurse anesthetist well prepare for anesthesia ..

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Example :

while the circulating nurse is transferring the pt to RR & giving endorsement , the third nurse or the assistant could set up the room , the scrub nurse set up all instruments & supplies that well used in the surgical procedure & the nurse anesthetist well prepare for anesthesia ..

Not every facility has the staffing patterns to accommodate that. Many in my area only have a circulating nurse and a scrub person. Either the scrub person has to open everything for him/herself or the circulator has to open everything before getting the patient.

[ceman]

Not every facility has the staffing patterns to accommodate that. Many in my area only have a circulating nurse and a scrub person. Either the scrub person has to open everything for him/herself or the circulator has to be open everything before getting the patient.

i strongly agree with u , but i think this issue should be raised to patient quality officers since its been interfered with a patient safety & i know that every delay happens only nurses took the blame for it ...huh , thats why u have to be assertive & only care for patient safety .