Lumbar fusion has grown rapidly, skyrocketing by more than 250% in the past 20 years. Costs have risen even faster, by more than 500% in Medicare patients alone, according to a recent study from Dartmouth. Lumbar fusion accounts for almost 50% of all back surgery performed in the US. Now…
An alarming 80% of patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are undiagnosed and untreated before surgery. OSA occurs when the soft tissue in the back of the throat narrows and repeatedly closes during sleep. The brain responds by waking the person up, and breathing resumes. Those with…
Lean thinking provides a way to do more with less—less human effort, equipment, time, and space—while coming closer to providing customers with exactly what they want, according to James Womack and Daniel Jones, authors of the classic Lean Thinking. Here's a look at lean practices for the OR from consultant…
Momentum is gathering to extend preoperative briefings. OR teams already must pause before the incision to verify the surgical site. Now some experts would like to see these briefings expanded to include other critical aspects of the procedure. A new study from Johns Hopkins Medicine published in February found OR…
An academic medical center is practicing "wasteology" to pare time, expense, and hassle from its OR processes. Using lean thinking, the center is streamlining its operations to get more cases done and improve service to patients, physicians, and staff. The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) in Seattle has applied…
An orthopedic surgeon has to make a 1,000-ft round trip between cases to get the kind of OR cap he likes. A circulating nurse leaves the room 4 times during a case to get needed items. A hospital performing 500 basic surgical procedures has 9,000 preference cards. Lean thinking articles…
Flash sterilization is a fact of life in operating rooms—an item is dropped during a case, a surgeon brings a special instrument that needs to be sterilized, and so on. Professional organizations recommend keeping flash sterilization to a minimum. If it must be done, it must be done properly. The…
Abill in New York State would amend the state's education law to license central service (CS) technicians. If the bill becomes law, only a person licensed or exempt from licensure would be able to perform CS services or use the title Central Service Technician. Requirements for licensure would include: meeting…
Time is valuable in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). Patients need to be moved through the facility as quickly-and safely-as possible. How can you balance time with safety to achieve success in your ASC? Simply be sure your policies and procedures reflect evidence-based practice guidelines for addressing common factors that contribute…
Want to get started on lean thinking? There's a method you can apply called 5S. 5S is about cleaning up and organizing work areas. The idea is to create a "visual workplace" that is uncluttered, helping to put an end to the searching, delays, and stress caused when you can't…
Tuesday, November 9 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET | 1 CE
Sponsored in partnership by:Â MobileSmith Health
Decades before COVID-19, hospitals were struggling with how to effectively meet and manage standards of patient care. While the current pandemic has clearly introduced new burdens on nurses and nurse management, in many ways, the pandemic has severely amplified old issues and combined them with a new generation of challenges. Historically, nursing has been incredibly resilient; so much so that hospital leadership has unfairly relied upon nurses to weather any storm. Are we finally at the breaking point? If so, what can be done to move us in the right direction?
December 3, 2020 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET | 1 CE
Managing ORs is hard, especially without access to reliable and readily available data. EHRs that are built to capture information about patients and their care do not provide the level of data visibility or reliability needed to make daily as well as strategic decisions about expensive healthcare assets such as ORs. Ensuring surgeons have optimal access, knowing exactly where and how to drive efficiency, and delivering value to surgeons, patients, and staff are constant challenges. These challenges require greater visibility into available OR time and key performance indicators.
Please join us for this free webinar to learn how one health system achieved the following:
Additionally, attendees will learn about proven technology for leveraging predictive and prescriptive analytics to enable organizations to break through barriers to OR value and efficiency.
Learning Objectives
Webinar Leaders
Jon Peterson is the Business Manager of Surgical Services for WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, NC. Jon has worked in healthcare for nearly 20 years. After graduating from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance, his tenure in the industry started off in corporate finance, including corporate cash management, reimbursement, corporate budgeting, and long-range financial planning. For the last ten years, his work has focused on operational financial management at the WakeMed Raleigh Campus, an urban level 1 trauma center in Raleigh, NC. His teams provide the daily clinical operations by providing scheduling, inventory, billing, and clinical informatic support needed to care for over 22,000 patients annually.
Diana Gillogly, MS, is a Product Implementation Manager of iQueue for Operating Rooms where she has led operational workflow changes and product implementations at multiple health systems. Prior to joining LeanTaaS, Diana worked in urology research and then developed and ran a healthcare outcomes and reimbursement software company. Through her work, Diana has demonstrated success working in global healthcare software development, custom design and implementation, technology integration and physician relations. Diana earned her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and her Master of Science degree in Global Health from Northwestern University.
Presented by partnership by:
Operating rooms grapple with time lost due to late starts, lengthy turnovers, underutilized blocks, unused blocks, and more. At the same time, many surgeons are clamoring for increased access to handle more cases.
In this free webinar, Surgical Directions will present how to reclaim lost and wasted time that is holding back your OR. We will discuss how waste happens, how to measure it, and, critically, how to organize for success to convert the lost time into additional cases for your facility. With over 25 years of experience working at hundreds of hospitals and ASCs, the Surgical Directions team has the expertise to discuss ways to improve your financial performance and patient experience.
Brian Watha, Associate Vice President is Associate Vice President at Surgical Directions. He has extensive experience in OR process improvement, business intelligence and quaternary medical center perioperative services, where he has been responsible for all end-to-end OR processes as the Principal Management Engineer. He is familiar with multiple OR IT platforms and is an expert at electronic medical record (EMR) migrations.
Brian earned his Master of Health Service Administration from the University of Michigan. He completed a one-year Executive Administrative Fellowship at Health Alliance Plan, where he focused on plan configuration, strategic planning and growth. Brian continues to serve as a graduate mentor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and teaches biotech-startup coursework at the Ross School of Business
Michael Besedick, Engagement Manager As an engagement manager for Surgical Directions, Michael manages analytics projects that reduce costs, drive revenue and increase ROI for healthcare clients. His specialties include analytics research, implementation and strategy. Michael’s demonstrated experience in advanced predictive analytics, data visualization and machine learning are of practical use to hospitals and hospital systems who appreciate his ability to clearly communicate complex concepts that result in confident, data-supported decisions.
