Doing More with Less: WakeMed’s Experience in Optimizing OR Capacity For An 11.5% Volume Increase in Three Years

Managing OR capacity effectively is especially important in times of crisis, when maintaining inpatient bed capacity downstream is critical. The ability to adjust OR scheduling optimally, to accommodate case volumes and ensure the right capacity remains open, depends on actionable data that is immediately accessible to all stakeholders. 

A Raleigh-based community hospital system and Level 1 Trauma Center, WakeMed was experiencing capacity challenges throughout the hospital with an influx of inpatient admissions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, WakeMed needed to reduce certain types of cases in the OR due to capacity challenges. WakeMed’s priority as a trauma center was to preserve their time-sensitive case volume, while adjusting non-time sensitive cases in the schedule in order to prioritize inpatient floor bed space.  

In this presentation, WakeMed’s Business Manager of Surgical Services describes how the team utilized LeanTaaS’ AI-powered solution iQueue for Operating Rooms to intelligently manage their case volume and optimize capacity. iQueue offered data-driven triage messaging to providers and office schedulers outside of EHR access, which supported patient triaging based on criteria requirements. The solution also fostered a culture of transparency across the health system overall. Visibility into data across the WakeMed organization provides a broader view to stakeholders, facilitates physicians conversations, and drives operational decision-making. 

Viewers of this webinar will be able to: 

• Understand how to utilize data transparency to facilitate critical case triaging in the OR
• Examine how intelligent OR scheduling technology helps prioritize surgical cases and optimize OR utilization
• Describe how accessible data supports a culture of transparency across a hospital system