turnover times in a small or

You are doing everything right. I don't know how you could possibly improve this. Are you flashing instruments that are needed for the next case? If so, that in itself is at least 10 minutes, and that doesn't even count the time that you must soak and wash the instruments, clean out the lumens and rinse everything before it goes into the autoclave. Are suture and gloves already picked for the following cases? Do you have to move/find equipment? If my assumptions are correct, there is no way possible that you can do better. These surgeons need a reality check already!

Tell them to grab a mop and help. I have told them this and you'd be surprised cause a few have started helping turn over rooms when we are busy.

This Or needs a extra person to help out. Not a nurse or tech even.A person to turn over inst,help clean,move patients,etc. Most small ORs in my area have a inst tech that cleans inst ,and helps with everything else. Your hospital seems to be squeezing every drop out of you.

Are the two cases that start off the day for different surgeons? If not, then when you are closing on your first case, the second OR team could be bringing patient #2 into the other OR so that when the surgeon closes and talks to the family of patient #1, he's ready to go right to work on the next case (given that he had seen them in preop prior - or he could see them in the OR just prior to induction). I am assuming that you have at least two anesthetists present during the day to complete cases?

The only other thing I would suggest is to pull all your cases for the next day before you leave - one less thing you have to worry about in the morning. What's the third RN and tech doing? I would think that you could hire a dedicated RN for PACU - this RN could help the outpatient/holding RN with admissions and preparing them for surgery until she gets her first patient in PACU. Other than those minor suggestions, it sounds like you have a good system.

How much are you opening? I worked at one hospital that had their packs made so all they opened were gloves and suture. Everything else was in the pack. I know it costs quite a bit to do pack conversions, but may shave a few minutes off. Plus that hospital even took it a step further and had 'trained' the surgeons to all use the same type of suture..saving time and not keeping suture on hand that was seldom used.

She is right. At our hospital we have minor packs,major packs. total joint packs. We just open gloves suture and any extras pertaining to that case. The saveings on time will make the difference eventually. Oh and we also have neuro packs and laproscopic packs. We are a 7 room OR with cysto,do a lot of totals,and general cases.The outpatient next door has 4 room and have their own style of packs. They can turn over in minutes. They keep the days cases in case cart in room. Tech takes insts to inst room grabs a cleaning cloth,wipes table and bed and is ready to open. They do not mop unless there is spillage. I have adapted this for my ENT service,and can turn over by myself while nurse gets pt.