Operating Efficiency of a Plastic Surgery Theatre:

Background: The efficient use of operating theatres is important to ensure optimum cost-benefit for the hospital. We used the elective Plastic Surgery theatre as a model to assess theatre efficiency at our institution.

Methods: Data was collected retrospectively on every operation performed in the elective plastic surgery theatre between 01/06/12 and 30/11/12. Each component of the operating theatre process was considered and integrated to calculate values for surgical/anaesthetic time, changeover time and ultimately theatre efficiency.

Results: A total of 594 operations were carried out over 1140 hours of allocated theatre time (ATT). Actual operating time represented 57.0%, anaesthetic time 28.4% and changeover time 12.0% of ATT. The average changeover time between patients was 21 minutes. Lists started on average 8 minutes late each day. There were a total of 8.8 hours of overruns and 5.1 hours of no useful activity. Operating theatre efficiency was 81% for the 6 month period.

Conclusion: Our study has highlighted areas where theatre efficiency can be improved. We have been able to suggest various strategies to improve this that may be applied universally.