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Transforming the culture of surgical serviceCHICAGO, April 16, 2024 / PR Newswire / — Addressing cultural friction within operating rooms has emerged as a critical imperative for healthcare institutions nationwide. Surgical Directions sheds light on the detrimental effects of cultural discord, including high clinician and staff turnover, surgical case volume outmigration, and risks to patient care. 

“Improving culture is necessary to deliver great surgical care…but you must play the ‘long game’,” says Leslie Basham, President, and CEO of Surgical Directions.  

Drawing from more than 25 years of industry experience, Basham outlines four tactics proven to transform the culture of surgical service departments: 

  1. Establish a Collaborative Physician-run Governance Committee

A proactive approach to cultural transformation involves empowering constituents to make collaborative decisions. By creating an Operationally Focused Surgical Services Executive Committee, co-chaired by a surgeon and an anesthesiologist, hospitals foster regular and constructive communication among key stakeholders. 

  1. Create a Fair and Transparent Surgeon Access System

Implementing a Surgeon Access Subcommittee can help hospitals establish utilization targets and hold surgeons accountable to block policies. By analyzing scheduling patterns and ensuring predictability, institutions can enhance the surgeon and nursing experience while optimizing resources. 

  1. Sustain Process Efficiency

Efforts to enhance process efficiency lay the groundwork for cultural change. Multi-disciplinary performance improvement teams focus on central sterile processing, materials management, and OR throughput, driving improvements in patient access, resource utilization, and staff retention. 

  1. Elevate OR Performance With Digital Innovation

Fully embracing a digital strategy, hospitals leverage predictive analytical tools like Merlin™ to optimize block scheduling, reallocate cases, and improve surgeon access. This digital transformation not only boosts OR efficiency but also contributes to significant surgical volume increases. 

“Through these transformative tactics, hospitals can realize a 20% increase in prime-time utilization as well as a 25% jump in surgical volume with tools like Merlin,” added Basham. 

To read Leslie Basham’s full comments on the subject visit Expert Insights at SurgicalDirections.com/Insights. 

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 As seen on Morningstar and Associated Press.

ABOUT SURGICAL DIRECTIONS  

Surgical Directions is a healthcare solutions company that helps health systems, provider groups and ASCs improve perioperative, procedural care and anesthesia services through consulting, technology, and leadership. We partner with organizations using peer-to-peer leadership, process expertise and predictive analytics to profitably grow their organizations. Our team of experienced practitioners and consultants tackles critical issues while achieving financial, operational, and clinical outcome excellence. Surgical Directions has successfully served 500 clients to increase patient access and, most importantly, improve patient care. Additional information is available at www.surgicaldirections.com.  

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  • Surgical Directions

    Surgical Directions is the nation’s premier clinician-driven perioperative consulting, technology, and workforce solutions organization. We have an unmatched depth of knowledge in the procedural space, with solutions that have been perfected over 25 years and across more than 500 healthcare clients.

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At Surgical Directions, We Offer a Variety of Perioperative Optimization Services.

Surgical Directions

Surgical Directions is the nation’s premier clinician-driven perioperative consulting, technology, and workforce solutions organization. We have an unmatched depth of knowledge in the procedural space, with solutions that have been perfected over 25 years and across more than 500 healthcare clients.