Making the surgical beds go around.
A planned surgical admission is a major event for a patient and, when cancelled, not only causes great distress to the patient and relatives but is also a frustrating waste of resources if a fully staffed operating theatre lies idle. At Westmead Hospital, a bed management team was established with the appointment of a Clinical Nurse Consultant as Bed Manager to co-ordinate admissions in conjunction with all staff involved in the processing of surgical patients. Despite a reduced number of available surgical beds, throughput was maintained with a significantly reduced number of cancelled booked cases, which decreased to zero and have remained so since the end of 1995. It has been found that it is possible to achieve a situation where all booked surgical patients can be admitted as planned while still providing for emergency patients. This requires a co-ordinated approach with an emphasis on teamwork led by a dedicated Bed Manager working with medical and nursing staff on surgical wards together with the bookings office, pre-admission clinic, operating theatre and anaesthetics department.
Fletcher
J P
JP
Division of Surgery, Westmead Hospital, NSW, Australia.
Hodges
B
B
D000761:Anesthesia Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001315:Australia; D001513:Beds / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D004630:Emergencies; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010343:Patient Admission; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*