To help speed Enloe Medical Center's OR turnovers between cases, dividing the OR into 4 zones keeps staff focused and efficient, according to an article on the Outpatient Surgery website.
One staff member is assigned to each zone, ensuring that everyone knows which tasks he's responsible for completing, the article said.
Before implementing this approach, turning rooms over required 6 to 8 staff members. That led to confusion about which tasks were performed and which weren't.
Now turnovers at Enloe (in Chico, Calif., require a maximum of four staff members and turnover time has decreased by about 7 minutes.
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