Theatre efficiency in a busy orthopaedic group practice: safety and effectiveness

Authors

  • Ponky Firer

Abstract

The measured downtime between cases, even in an efficient theatre setup, is between 12 and 20 minutes. Add to this the extra time taken for induction, patient setup and prepping of the patient, and it grows to around 20–30 minutes a case. Given an average eight to ten case list, this totals to around 2 hours 40 minutes per day. This ‘loss’ affects a) theatre efficiency; b) surgeon’s time utilisation; c) staff home times. In addition, longer lists require patients to be operated late, affecting their discharge times.

Author Biography

Ponky Firer

Linksfield Knee Clinic and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

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Published

2024-08-26

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 3 (2024)

Section

Letter to the Editor

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