Pediatrics
-
In multicase pediatric ear, nose, and throat operating rooms (ORs), brief delays in early case start times often produce a cascading effect of lengthy delays by the end of the day and can often lead to patient, family, and staff dissatisfaction and increased labor costs due to unplanned overtime. We sought to improve actual end of day relative to scheduled end of day from 40% to 60%. ⋯ By applying quality-improvement methods, significant improvements were made in a multicase pediatric ear, nose, and throat OR. The impact can be significant by reducing wait times for patients, as well as staff overtime for the institution.