Novel Orleans – An operating room efficiency and analytics program has demonstrated the potential to improve surgical flow and reduce procedure times for total joint arthroplasty, according to findings presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting this week.
The study, led by George N. Guild III, MD, of Total Joint Specialists in Atlanta, analyzed timestamped surgical workflow data collected via a cloud-based program – 1Team Surgical, developed by Zimmer Biomet – for 106 total hip arthroplasties (THA) and 214 total knee arthroplasties (TKA). Researchers assessed data before and after implementing an efficiency improvement program, focusing on metrics including total OR time, incision to implant time, incision to close time, wheels-in to incision time, OR turnover time, and surgeon turnover time.
Results indicated significant improvements in several key areas following the implementation of the program. For TKA procedures, researchers observed significant reductions in OR time, incision to implant time, incision to closing time, wheels-in to incision time, and surgeon turnover time when comparing the initial “diagnostic” phase to the subsequent “follow-up” phase.
While a trend toward shorter OR times was noted for THA procedures, the most significant improvements were observed in wheels-in to incision time and surgeon turnover time during the follow-up phase compared to the diagnostic phase.
“Efficiency is not new to orthopedic surgery, particularly in joint replacement,” Dr. Guild stated. “When you are able to have radical time transparency, you are able to make improvements in your overall surgical flow and perioperative flow, whether that is turnover, the time it takes to close the skin, maybe the amount of time it takes you to make the incision and start having implants in. When you have those time stamps, what gets measured gets improved.”
The Wyanoke Group, the parent company of Healio, which published the findings, also owns SLACK Incorporated, the publisher of several specialty medical journals, including those in nursing, ophthalmology, and general medicine. SLACK Journals provides content to institutions globally and is indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed.
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Dr. Guild disclosed a product development agreement with Zimmer Biomet. He can be reached at georgeguild@yahoo.com.
