Improving Operating Room Efficiency: Relocating a Surgical Oncology Program Within a Health Care System.

To meet increased community and regional needs for quality services, our hospital system concluded that its established surgical oncology program-consisting of gynecologic oncology (4 physicians), surgical oncology (2 physicians), and otolaryngologic oncology (2 physicians)-would be best served by the transition of the comprehensive surgical oncology program to a new oncology-naive hospital. We describe the overall strategy and approach involved with this move, its implementation, operating room efficiency results, and physician satisfaction associated with the relocation. The purpose of the systematic plan for relocation, which was developed and refined during the 2 years preceding the move, was to facilitate a collective awareness and understanding of important patient-centered concepts and essential workflow.