Purpose: Parallel processing of regional anesthesia may improve operating room (OR) efficiency in patients undergoes upper extremity surgical procedures. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether performing regional anesthesia outside the OR in parallel increases total cases per day, improve efficiency and productivity.
Design/methodology/approach: Data from all adult patients who underwent regional anesthesia as their primary anesthetic for upper extremity surgery over a one-year period were used to develop a simulation model. The model evaluated pure operating modes of regional anesthesia performed within and outside the OR in a parallel manner. The scenarios were used to evaluate how many surgeries could be completed in a standard work day (555 minutes) and assuming a standard three cases per day, what was the predicted end-of-day time overtime.
Findings: Modeling results show that parallel processing of regional anesthesia increases the average cases per day for all surgeons included in the study. The average increase was 0.42 surgeries per day. Where it was assumed that three cases per day would be performed by all surgeons, the days going to overtime was reduced by 43 percent with parallel block. The overtime with parallel anesthesia was also projected to be 40 minutes less per day per surgeon.
Research Limitations/implications: Key limitations include the assumption that all cases used regional anesthesia in the comparisons. Many days may have both regional and general anesthesia. Also, as a case study, single-center research may limit generalizability.
Practical Implications: Perioperative care providers should consider parallel administration of regional anesthesia where there is a desire to increase daily upper extremity surgical case capacity. Where there are sufficient resources to do parallel anesthesia processing, efficiency and productivity can be significantly improved.
Originality/value: Simulation modeling can be an effective tool to show practice change effects at a system-wide level.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa-11-2013-0129 | DOI Listing |
Surg Pract Sci
September 2022
Division of Trauma, Emergency General Surgery and Critical Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Rib fractures still remain a common problem in blunt thoracic trauma, often resulting significant acute and/or chronic morbidity and mortality. The management of rib fractures has improved over the past two decades, resulting in overall improved patient outcomes. With advances in surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF), improvements in regional analgesia, and the introduction of intercostal nerve cryoablation, patient outcomes from rib fractures have improved significantly over the past several years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurg Pract Sci
March 2025
Arizona Center of Hand to Shoulder Surgery, Phoenix, AZ, United States.
Introduction: Time spent in the operating room (OR) has ramifications that impact patient outcomes and the economics of patients, physicians, surgery centers, and insurance industry. For that reason, there is an incentive to seek approaches that allow shorter times to be spent in the OR. To what extent varying routine techniques impact on operating times has not been extensively studied in metacarpal fixation literature, specifically investigating retrograde threaded intramedullary nail fixations (RTNF) and comparing it to open plating fixations (OPF).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCureus
December 2024
Department of Medical-Clinical Disciplines, General Surgery, Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest, Bucharest, ROU.
Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers occurring globally. Surgery for CRC often extends hospital stays due to complications, as patients must meet nutritional needs and regain mobility before discharge. Longer hospital stays, required for extended monitoring and care, can increase the risk of further complications, creating a cycle where extended stays lead to more issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth
January 2025
Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Electronic address:
Objectives: This systematic review aims to tabulate and analyze the published literature regarding pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) entrapment during cardiac surgery.
Design: Systematic review.
Setting: Case reports and series.
Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med
January 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China. Electronic address:
Background: Quadratus lumborum block (QLB) has gained traction as a regional anesthesia technique to manage postoperative pain following laparoscopic surgery. However, the 90% minimum effective concentration (MEC90) of local anesthetics for posterior QLB remains undetermined.
Methods: We conducted a double-blind, comparative dose-finding study involving 54 women scheduled for elective laparoscopic myomectomy under general anesthesia.
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