Real-Time Operating Room Efficiency Display System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Operating room throughput remains an elusive goal for hospitals due to prolonged turnover times, inefficient data collection and reporting in electronic medical record systems (EMRs), and challenges in tracking and improving operating room efficiency metrics.
Innovation Solution
A networked system comprising a data collector module, display manager module, and display modules that receive real-time data on patient arrivals and departures to calculate and display metrics such as First Case On Time Start (FCOTS), operating room utilization, and turnover times, using existing EMR data to improve workflow without increasing data entry workload, with visual feedback mechanisms like color-coded clocks to identify delays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If real-time data collection and display systems are implemented, then operating room efficiency metrics can be improved, but system complexity and implementation cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary display system that sits between the existing EMR data collection infrastructure and the users needing efficiency information. This intermediary layer (the visual management display system) aggregates, processes, and presents data in an easily consumable format without requiring changes to the underlying EMR systems or data collection processes, thus improving productivity while managing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified copies and visual representations of complex operating room efficiency data. Instead of presenting raw EMR data or requiring users to navigate complex databases, the system generates visual copies such as color-coded displays, countdown clocks, and metric summaries that replicate the essential information in an easily interpretable format, improving accessibility without increasing source system complexity.
2Loss of information
If detailed EMR data collection is maintained, then comprehensive information is available, but ease of finding important data decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the most critical efficiency metrics from the comprehensive EMR data set and presents them separately in a simplified format. By taking out key information such as turnover times, on-time start percentages, and utilization metrics from the detailed EMR records and displaying them prominently, the system maintains data completeness in the source system while dramatically improving ease of accessing important information.
Solution Approach 2:
Different displays and interfaces provide different levels and types of information quality appropriate to their specific purpose. The system implements local quality by providing detailed data where needed (in the EMR system) while providing simplified, high-level metrics in visual management displays for quick oversight, allowing users to access comprehensive information when necessary while easily finding key metrics during routine monitoring.
3Loss of time
If visual management displays are implemented in operating rooms, then real-time feedback is provided, but device complexity and implementation cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating and displaying key metrics before they are needed for decision-making. Countdown clocks show remaining time before scheduled events, and predictive metrics indicate potential delays before they occur, allowing the team to take corrective action in advance rather than reacting to problems after they've impacted turnover time, thereby reducing time loss without requiring complex real-time intervention systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus, systems, and methods relate to one or more operating rooms; one or more display screens located in the one or more operating rooms; one or more display screens located outside of the one or more operating rooms; and a computer apparatus comprising computer hardware and software, which is operatively connected to an EMR system and is configured so as to receive from the EMR system utilization information regarding the one or more operating rooms. The computer apparatus is further configured to cause to be displayed one or more generated graphics or graphical user interfaces (GUIs) showing operating room efficiency information, in real time, for view on the one or more display screens in the one or more operating rooms, and on the one or more display screens located outside of the one or more operating rooms.