Benefits of Team Approaches to OR Efficiency

Updates from Columbia Ortho's lean journey and the latest news on evidence-based improvement science.

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It's a privilege to be sharing some of the latest news and articles from the quality team at Columbia Orthopedics. In this edition, we share some of the work led by Dr. Vitale on teamwork for improving OR efficiency, new best practices for preventing wrong-level spine surgery, and the 2016 NYP Orthopedics Outcomes Report. Enjoy!

Kevin Wang, Director, Quality & Value
Dr. Michael Vitale, Vice-chair, Strategy & Quality
Dr. William Levine, Chairman, Orthopedic Surgery

Using evidence-based teamwork methods, the spine team has since undertaken several improvement projects including reducing the number of surgical trays opened, improving night room setup, and improving first case on-time starts. Through these initiatives, the team has grown closer as a unit and has achieved tangible results:

Number of surgical trays decreased by 33%
On-time starts increased by 36%
Time to incision decreased by 10%

Several members of the spine and ortho team were in the top 5 for all attending surgeons for on-time start, including one spine team beginning 100% of January cases on time. Ortho service first-case on-time start was 72% overall!

Recently the team was invited to author an article on teamwork in the Journal for Bone and Joint Surgery and submitted an abstract to the Scoliosis Research Society.

Register now for the 3rd Annual Spine Safety Summit featuring a keynote on teamwork from General Stanley McChrystal.

Best Practices in Preventing Wrong-Level Surgery: A product of last year's Spine Safety Summit, top spine surgeons from Columbia, HSS, NYU, Mt Sinai, and Montefiore, came together to create a checklist for preventing wrong-level spine surgery.

Download the 2017 NYP Orthopedics Report on Clinical and Scientific Innovation highlighting the amazing work from the faculty at Columbia Orthopedics.

#MeToo in Medicine: Widely shared by Dr. Levine, the quality team feels that this is an important article for everyone to read

Medtronic CEO feels that value-based contracts are the future of care: As healthcare payment mechanisms evolve, its important to think about the value contributed by all stakeholders.

If you have any articles or news to share, please reach out to: kw2561@cumc.columbia.edu