Analysis of operating room efficiency between a hospital-owned ambulatory surgical center and hospital outpatient department.

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are frequently utilized; however some ambulatory procedures may be performed in hospital outpatient departments (HOPs). Our aim was to compare operating room efficiency between our ASC and HOP.

METHODS: We reviewed outpatient general surgery procedures performed at our ASC and HOP. Total case time was divided into five components: ancillary time, procedure time, exit time, turnover time, and nonoperative time.

RESULTS: Overall, 220 procedures were included (114 ASC, 106 HOP). Expressed in minutes, the mean turnover time (29.8 ± 9.6 vs. 24.5 ± 12.7; p < 0.01), ancillary time (32.2 ± 7.0 vs. 22.2 ± 4.5; p < 0.01), procedure time (77.4 ± 44.9 vs. 56.2 ± 23.0 p < 0.01), exit time (11.8 ± 4.4 vs. 8.5 ± 4.3; p < 0.01), and nonoperative time (62.9 ± 21.9 vs. 48.7 ± 15.0; p < 0.01) were longer at the HOP than at the ASC.

CONCLUSION: ASC outpatient procedures are more efficient than those performed at our HOP. A system evaluation of our HOP operating room efficiency is necessary.