Looking beyond surgeons
Leveraging data and performance-focused analytics offer the potential to improve all aspects of a surgical team’s performance, including operating staff members – critical, given that studies show operating room time costs well in excess of $1,000 per hour.
Establishing a culture of safety and quality among staff can be challenging due to high rates of turnover, which create knowledge gaps throughout a system.
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However, the digital trail of data from surgeries also informs OR staff members and helps them improve performance through training modules and checklists of best practices. The recordings and data can be used to create these training modules, which are more than just simulations, but real patients under actual conditions.
Even small improvements in the process efficiency of surgery staff members have the potential to deliver a disproportionate impact on surgical quality, which can enhance hospitals’ financial performance in value-based reimbursement models.
Conclusion
New technology allows surgical quality officers to bring both rigor and innovation to training models. It also offers a pathway for surgeons to improve technical skills. By providing purposeful practice and meaningful feedback, following the digital trail of evidence, and looking beyond surgeons to staff, hospitals can upgrade surgical training to boost quality and lower costs.
About the author: Dr. John Birkmeyer is the chief clinical officer of Sound Physicians and a member of the board of advisors of caresyntax, a surgical data, analytics and automation company.Back to HCB News
