Process optimisation in the OR area

Initial Situation and Project Objektives

The Landeskrankenhaus Innsbruck (LKI) consists of 38 university clinics with 1,600 beds. With more than 90,000 in - patient cases and over one million outpatient contacts per year this hospital is the second largest in Austria.
19 specialist departments operate in 62 operating theatres, 47 of which are assigned to three core surgery zones. Surgery planning in the LKI, mainly carried out autonomously by the clinics, was not organized in an optimum manner. Due to poor communication, surgical operations were often postponed or cancelled at short notice. In addition, ideal coordination of operation planning was often not ensured in a consistent manner. The aim of the project was to optimize the work in the surgical area in a way that a significant increase in efficiency could be achieved. The intention was to establish an optimum combination of interdisciplinary and sophisticated medical care for elective and emergency patients while at the same time ensuring economic use of resources.

Tasks of UNITY

UNITY was assigned the task to design and sustainably implement a secured and optimized overall process for the surgery area of the Landeskrankenhaus (hospital). In cooperation with the LKI staff the process was visualized, defined, optimized and aligned with the relevant framework conditions. UNITY was assigned the following tasks:

• Identifying and eliminating bottlenecks and weak spots
• Quantitative assessment of the actual and nominal processes using simulation tools
• Designing a specified, harmonized and secured end - to - end process
• Sustainable implementation using professional project management

Benefits of the Client

Partnering with UNITY it was possible to establish a professional surgery management in the LKI. This allowed the hospital to increase the surgery utilization during regular working hours while reducing the number of surgeries on duty. Using new surgery planning software, it was possible to considerably improve planning and documentation of surgical operations. By implementing a long - term surgery planning process, it was possible to significantly reduce the number of short - term cancellations of operations. The goals achieved have led to a considerable increase in the satisfaction of patients and employees. By systematically involving the staff in the optimization of the surgery management it was possible to ensure the smooth implementation of the new end - to - end process and its acceptance by all employees.