title: Optimizing second shift OR staffing.
abstract: In surgical suites when ORs sometimes run late, nurse anesthetists or perioperative nurses may be scheduled to work a second shift to cover procedures. Nurse anesthetists' OR workload in the afternoons can differ from that of perioperative nurses. At the end of long procedures, times to transport and stabilize patients can be considerable. This article shows that optimal second-shift OR staffing is the same for nurse anesthetists and perioperative nurses when assessed using anesthesia billing data and OR information systems data respectively. Managers do not need hospital information systems staff members to provide data from both anesthesia billing and OR information systems to make second-shift staffing decisions. One or the other is adequate.
authors.affiliation: Division of Management Consulting, Department of Anesthesia, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
authors.forename: Franklin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dexter
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Epstein
mesh_terms: D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009719:Nurse Anesthetists / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009870:Operating Room Information Systems; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000191:economics; D013527:Perioperative Nursing / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010562:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling Information Systems; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload