Cath Lab Case Scheduling

[Kristej]

I am looking for some advice on scheduling. I work in a cath lab with 2 labs and an EP lab. We normally do an average of 15 caths per day. We have been having problems with working 14+ hours per day (we only have one shift). We have a problem with MD downtime. Most wait to do their cases until after office hours (2pm) and then don't show up on time. I feel we just plain overbook cases, especially the electives and then cater too much to the MD's office hourse instead of the cath lab hours. I would like some opinions on how others manage scheduling cases in their labs. Any ideas?

[Heartsalive]

Scheduling in the CCL can be a real problem for those of us who "have a life" outside the hospital. Our physicians run between their offices and the CCL all day long.

Here's what we "try" to do. No routine cases are scheduled past 4 p.m. Cases may be added on "to follow" the last case of the day if, and only if, the patient is an inpatient. You seem to have a decent volume, so perhaps if you have down time waiting on physicians, you may benefit from staggered 8 hour shifts or 10-12 hour shifts to cover the later cases. Your staff would get an extra day or two off during the week, which most would like, especially if you guys are already working 14 hours in a routine day.

At 4 p.m. our call team takes over, which leaves only 3 staff members in the lab, so if cases are scheduled beyond that, turnover stinks and the physicians hate it. The physicians also have lives and don't want to be in the lab doing a routine cath, or even worse, a complicated intervention at 9 p.m.--they get paid the same. We are the ones who get the overtime.

[sloddesol]

its pretty much the same all over we run two labs and the docs schedule to work around their office one reason is they don't pay our overtime were trying to convince the cardiologists to follow a radiologist model and have one invasive guy in the lab that gets all the cases that day shunted to him and if they have patients they have to cath for that personal touch just schedule on the day they're in the lab unfortunately it's not working for us it does work in the hospitals in Sacramento because they have enough volume to keep working regardless we have one cardiology group and they act like a bunch of guys sharing an office instead a true partnership as for after hours scheduling anything after 1530 goes to the call crew so we only run one room we've only been doing that for about 5 years before that when we weren't on call we were required to stay till all the scheduled cases were over on a positve note though you didn't need to worry about what you were going to do after work:(

[hvlscwlltrvl]

I do travel assignments in cath lab. One cath lab I worked at solved their problems by scheduling the physicians to the cath lab. Dr X worked Mon and THurs, Dr Y worked Tues and Fri. etc. Then if emergency came in whatever physician in their group that was there picked it up on their schedule. They also left to the call team anything after 1600. Only one room so some of the Dr's rescheduled the cases. May not work for everyone but it worked for them!

[st4304]

We are also lucky in that our cardiologists always schedule one doc to be in the lab for the entire day. If a doc in the office wants to personally cath a patient, he schedules that patient as an outpt on a day he is in the lab, otherwise the doc in the lab that day does everything that comes through the door.