The operating room (OR) department of a hospital forms the heart of the organization, where the single largest cost is incurred. This document presents and reports on the “Operating Room Manager Game”, developed to give insight into managing a large hospital’s OR department at various levels of control, and the difficulties of applying OR/MS techniques in healthcare. The players take on the rol...

Operating rooms (ORs) in US hospitals are costly to staff, generate about 70 % of a hospital's revenues, and operate at a staffed-capacity utilization of 60-70 %. Many hospitals allocate blocks of OR time to individual or groups of surgeons as guaranteed allocation, who book surgeries one at a time in their blocks. The booking procedure frequently results in unused time between surgeries. Reali...

Identified during SEIPS component OSS ISS Introduction of new employees Better introduction of new employees, including guided tour of trauma centre, acute admission centre, and blood bank X X Person Identification of staff Name badges visible on uniforms at all times and improved name badges for easier identification of the various healthcare professions X X Person Inclusion of people’s names ...